Cartouche, a Breton spaniel from the West Flemish town of Veurne, is very lucky to be alive after he was run over by a car on the motorway and dragged for 27km in the vehicle’s bumper. It wasn’t until the driver of the vehicle had reached the coastal village of Middelkerke that passers-by noticed the dog and it was able to be freed from the bumper. Cartouche suffered several broken bones and hypothermia.
West Flemish dog survives being dragged 27km in the bumper of a car after having been run over
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Nevertheless, Cartouche’s owner Dirk Delancker told VRT News that everything is going to be ok. Mr Delancker often goes walking with his two dogs on a path between Veurne and Lo-Reninge. During a walk on New Year’s Eve one of his two dogs, Cartoche, disappeared.
Mr Delancker told VRT News that "I thought that she had fallen into the canal”. A search for Cartouche proved fruitless.
"My wife and my brother-in-law joined the search. Then we received a telephone call from the police in Middelkerke asking if we had lost a dog. We were gob smacked". Middelkerke is 27km away from where cartouche had disappeared.
“A woman had spotted a car travelling in the opposite direction that had a dog lodged in its bumper. She turned back and at a set of traffic lights she pulled up in front of the vehicle to make it stop. The fire service and the police were called, and Cartouche was taken to an animal hospital in Oudenburg.
Probably the dog was hit by a car on the motorway in Veurne and then dragged the 27km to Middelkerke. The driver of the vehicle was unaware that he had hit the dog as the accident happened during a hailstorm.
Cartouche was in serious condition after the collision. Her hind leg was shattered, her sternum was broken, and she had hypothermia. At first it looked like her hind leg would have to be amputated.
"The vet put the paw that had been shattered in eight places back together with plates, screws and a wire. Cartouche still has a long rehabilitation process ahead of her, but she will come through!", Dirk Delancker told VRT News.