Trent escaped from the family’s front garden and wandered into Kirkdale traction maintenance depot
A mum whose beloved dog disappeared from her front garden was distraught when he was returned to her “in pieces” in two bin bags. Keylisha Gleeson’s two-year-old Chow Chow, Trent, escaped from her garden in Kirkdale at around 3pm on Monday, November 4.
She made a Facebook post appealing for the return of her missing pet, and was informed by several people he had been seen wandering into the Kirkdale traction maintenance depot near Bank Hall station. Keylisha’s mum Tracy visited Sandhills, Bank Hall and Kirkdale stations in the hope of finding Trent, and was eventually informed by a staff member at Kirkdale the dog had been killed on the tracks.
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Keylisha, 22, said: “I was on the phone to my mum at the time and I said ‘is he definitely gone? He could still be alive’, and the man said he’s definitely dead – he’s been cut in half. He’s in two pieces. That traumatised me. I haven’t slept or ate since it happened.
“They said they would retrieve him since it happened, but they had to get special people out because where he was on the tracks was too dangerous. This morning (November 7) they handed over two black bin bags with pieces of the dog in both bags.
“It’s literally traumatised me. My children loved him and my two-year-old who’s non-verbal just keeps looking confused because she can’t tell me the way she feels. My other daughter says she misses her dog and wants him to come home and I’ve had to explain to her that he’s not coming home. She’s really upset about it.”
Keylisha, a mum of two, said she believed Trent “definitely 100% could have been saved” if rail staff had responded to her dog walking close to the tracks, as last month several Merseyrail train services were cancelled after a dog was reportedly spotted between Maghull and Town Green.
She said: “They knew there was a dog running down the depot. They had a chance to get the dog before he hit the rails but they just left him like he was nothing. One man said to me when dogs get hit by the trains they normally just leave them because they don’t want to risk their lives getting a dead dog.”
A spokesman for Stadler Rail Group, which operates Kirkdale depot, said: “(The Group) was very sorry to hear that a dog had died on the tracks. We are responsible for maintaining trains and have no control or influence over the rail infrastructure. Our understanding of events is that a member of the public came to Kirkdale depot, reported a missing dog to a Merseyrail employee, who then informed Network Rail.”
A Merseyrail spokesman said: “On November 4 staff working at Kirkdale depot received reports of a dog close to the railway tracks. This information was immediately passed to Network Rail and staff were sent onto the line to investigate. Unfortunately, the dog was found deceased by the side of the track. Our thoughts are with the owner at this difficult time.”
Network Rail, which is responsible for the track where Trent was killed, said: “We are so sorry to Keylisha and family for the loss of Trent. Once we were aware that Trent was on the tracks an authorised worker was dispatched to the location. Because the Merseyrail network has a live, third rail, only specialist railway operatives are permitted to enter the tracks. Tragically, once they had arrived, Trent had sadly died.
“We understand that how we respond when a family loses a much-loved pet makes a huge difference to their grieving process. We are very sorry that Trent was not moved from the tracks on the same day as the incident and are reviewing our processes so we can improve this in the future.”
Keylisha, who adopted Trent when he was just nine weeks old, said: “He was amazing. He’d just lie there all day and cuddle you. He was a proper family dog. He loved the kids. He was just the most loving dog ever. He never snapped. He was the nicest dog you’d ever come across. He loved to get cuddled and stroked.” She added that she intended to make a complaint about what happened.