A FAMILY have been reunited with their beloved dog - after it went missing from a boarding kennel while they were on holiday.
Jess, a black Patterdale cross, was found scavenging at the side of the M1 last Wednesday at 6.20pm - close to where she went missing from Foxholes Animal Hotel at Haigh on September 12.
Owner Tracy Cartwright went to pick up Jess when she returned from holiday on September 20, but was told by kennel staff that she she had gone missing hours after being dropped off.
The pet, who the family had taken in from rescue kennels six months ago, is feared to have sustained a broken leg.
Tracy, of Ollerton Road, Athersley North, said: "I had put an appeal on Facebook and a lady who had seen it sent me a message to say she had spotted her on the motorway sliproad at Haigh.
"We went down there to see if we could find her and the Highways Agency was already there and had got her."
Tracey said she is still angry that no-one at the kennels rang to let them know Jess had gone missing.
She argued that she would have contacted her parents and in-laws who would have been out looking for as soon as she went missing.
"For anyone to lose a dog who is part of the family is heartbreaking. But to do so in these circumstances when she was supposedly being looked after - and for there to then be such a long delay in telling us - well that has made us very upset and also angry."
Lyndon Brown, owner of Foxholes, said the problem had been caused by a badger scraping under the security fence.
He said it was a freak occurrence but that he would do everything possible to avoid it happening again.
