On 4th December 2022, a 10-month-old family puppy went missing from a dog walk in the L35 area of the North West. Heidi was a therapy dog, who was given to a teen when he was diagnosed with cancer in February 2022 in the hope that she would give him a reason to fight his illness.

Heidi travelled around 2 miles from where she went missing and made her way onto the railway lines at Rainhill Station. She was sighted at various intervals between Rainhill Station and Huyton Station by both passengers and railway staff. Despite this, trains were allowed to continue along the 3-mile stretch. Heidi's family were assured that train drivers were aware of her presence on the lines. Hundreds of people in the local area joined the search to find Heidi, travelling between stations to assist.

Access to the railway lines is completely restricted. Once the dog enters the lines, they can only escape at a station. It would have taken searchers a short amount of time to walk from station to station (from each side of the railway lines) along the tracks to enclose around Heidi and rescue her safely.

The biggest issue lies with the railway policies for dealing with reports of an animal straying onto the railway lines and trains being allowed to continue travelling the lines. Reports of a swan on the tracks would force a train suspension/closure, but a family pet would not. Trains continuing in darkness especially means an almost certain fatality as trains have poor head lighting. As such, it would be almost impossible to see an animal like Heidi on the tracks and avoid impact.

Heidi was found by her family approximately 0.5 miles from the last reported sighting of her. Escorting searchers to walk this track would have taken less than an hour. Heidi's little body was identified by her family from a railway bridge, which was approximately 50-100 yards from where she lay. Despite this being reported, trains were still allowed to continue running at full speed and Heidi's body was not recovered for a further 8 hours. This is unacceptable.

With the railway lines completely fenced off, Heidi had no way to escape. She was condemned to death. Access gates along the track were overgrown and can only be accessed by professionals. Only one professional from Network Rail was sent to cover the 3-mile area. Heidi didn't stand a chance.

British Transport Police and Merseyside Police acted with compassion. Our plea to Merseyrail and Network Rail is to please install spring-loaded gates at all stations. Each station is already fenced off with the exception of an opening that leads directly onto the tracks. If this saves the life of just one child or dog, then Heidi's death will not be in vain.

24 hours before this incident, another dog was reported to have accessed the railway lines at Huyton Station, but was successfully rescued. This is not an isolated incident.

If railway companies insist on preventing access to the lines, then they must have techniques in place to assist animals that stray onto them. In Heidi's case, a thermal imaging drone and a short delay to rail users would have prevented 3 broken-hearted children, 2 broken-hearted parents and 1 massive hole in the family's lives.

Railway companies - Merseyrail and Network Rail - please realise that pets are not 'just animals'; they are part of a family and they deserve a chance to live. 3 children have buried their beloved puppy with her Christmas presents to save commercial money and service disruption. For Heidi’s body to have been left in place for an 8 additional hours after discovery also shows an appalling lack of compassion and has caused unnecessary trauma to Heidi’s already suffering family.

We please ask that you support our plight to prevent incidents like this from happening again, as sadly it is currently all but too common for lives to be lost needlessly and senselessly like Heidi's precious life was.