Dog of missing man found alive after weeks lost in the bush
Robert Weber's dog Nessie was found on the same property her owner was initially discovered last week. Photo: Supplied
The dog belonging to Robert Weber, who survived being lost in bushland at Kilkivan in Queensland’s Gympie region for 18 days, has been found on the same property her owner was a week earlier.
Local MP and property owner Tony Perrett was the same person who found the 58-year-old Narangba man sitting underneath a tree on January 24, after he disappeared for weeks on the way home from the Kilkivan pub.
Mr Perrett discovered the dog Nessie on Sunday.
“Through very, very good fortune the dog actually wandered into the house and the property,” Mr Perrett said.
“We’d been keeping an eye out for the dog, thinking that we’d find it somewhere but it eluded us over that period.”
Robert Weber was missing for 18 days before being found on Mr Perrett’s property last Sunday. Photo: ABC
The bull arab cross had been missing since January 6 and has lost a “significant” amount of weight but was otherwise OK.
“No doubt it would have found a few things to eat, but certainly dropped some weight, but still quite well and strong,” Mr Perrett said.
He was able to deliver the good news to Mr Weber over the phone.
“He was elated,” Mr Perrett said.
“Like everyone, he thought he’d never see the dog again but when I was able to make contact with him yesterday, he was most pleased that the dog had been found.”
Mr Perrett said Nessie was being cared for until she was able to be reunited with Mr Weber in the next couple of days.
“We’re hoping that we can get it reunited with Robert very, very shortly,” Mr Perrett said.
“But at the moment it’s just being cared for and is in much better surrounds than it has been the past three weeks.”
Mr Weber had been living on mushrooms and dam water. Photo: QPS
Mr Perrett said the whole event was extraordinary, after he and wife Michele found Mr Weber beside a dam where he had been living for nearly two weeks.
Mr Weber got lost after getting his car bogged on the Tansey property and told his rescuers he had eaten wild mushrooms and drank dam water to survive.
“We didn’t know that he was in there for a week or so until we were mustering a paddock on the western side of our property,” Mr Perrett said
“Quite fortunate that we found Robert, of course – that was always the main effort.
“To now find the dog just really tops it off, good result all round.”
