Hitchener stars in dog rescue
Date: November 23 2012Suzanne Carbone CHANNEL Nine newsreader Peter Hitchener enjoys a feel-good animal story but what viewers don't know is that he was the ''hero'' in a dog rescue. Travelling in a car with weekend newsreader Alicia Loxley to film community-service bushfire announcements in Eltham and Greensborough, she saw a whippet wandering across the busy four-lane Williamsons Road in Lower Templestowe and Hitchener, fearing for the dog's safety, said: ''We have to collect this dog otherwise someone will collect this dog.'' It was a natural instinct for the soft-hearted man who's the patron of Dogs Victoria. The 66-year-old who marks 40 years with Nine next year then plotted the rescue mission. The driver was instructed to mount the median strip and the duo tried to grab the dog but to no avail, so they got back in the car and parked elsewhere. Nine colleague Emma Norris found a packet of salt and vinegar chips in the car and the frightened dog was eventually enticed by the snack. A woman who saw the action took off her belt and with this makeshift leash, the dog was secured and Loxley rang Manningham council. The pet was taken to the pound and reunited with its owner. Hitchener told me: ''Thank goodness the dog wasn't hurt. It was a happy ending. It's a lovely story.'' Unfortunately there was no footage of the rescue to make the 6pm bulletin.
A blind cocker spaniel that spent five years in a cage before being
rescued from a puppy farm has had her sight restored, thanks to
big-hearted dog lovers. Belle, 6, was one of 244 dogs seized by RSPCA
inspectors in a raid on a Wondai puppy farm in 2009. Despite being blind
from birth, Bella was bred from constantly for the puppy trade which is
based primarily on “pretty” breeds such as poodles, cocker spaniels and
beagles. Milena and Boris Butovski of Macgregor on Brisbane’s southside
fostered Belle and a beagle called Lizzie when the RSPCA sought help
finding temporary homes. In August, Michael Bernays from Animal Eye
Services at Underwood removed a cataract and implanted an artificial
lens in Belle’s right eye. Her first look at the world terrified her.
“It was really scary,” Ms Butovski said. “She was afraid of her bed,
afraid of the letterbox and flowers. “We made a big mistake at first
when we took her home to reunite her with the other dog a big fight
started straight away.” Ms Butovski said Belle had a second eye
operation last month, which also was a success. “As much as I thought
Belle was a confident and relatively happy dog before, the
transformation after the second surgery was huge,” Ms Butovski said.
“There was no more fear of strange things and she started running like a
little racing horse, playing with a ball and showing an interest in
everything. She is like a big puppy now. “The trust that you see in
their eyes makes every cent (more than $5000) … worth it.” Ms Butovski
said no dog deserved to be kept in a puppy farm where they were
neglected and mistreated. “Belle was completely blind for five terrible
years while forced to produce litter after litter of puppies, very
likely genetically predisposed to blindness as she was,” she said. “When
rescued, she didn’t play with any toy nor had an interest for anything
but food and affection.”
Well
before it became a gathering place for motor racing enthusiasts, the
Mount was an important part of the local Wiradjuri tribe's culture. The
Mount was called ‘Waluu', which means ‘to watch over' and it was from
the vantage points now known as Skyline & McPhillamy Park that the
young Wiradjuri men would watch over their land and the movements of
travellers to and from the valley.
Photographs
of the early days of racing on Mount Panorama show the crowd leaning
over wire fences, vehicles on dirt tracks, officials in canvas tents,
and drivers with gloves, goggles and jacket, but no helmet. The
facilities at Mount Panorama were non-existent during this time, with
nothing more than dirt and some lines marking out a pit space for each
car.
