AN ANIMAL lover has flown a stray dog more than 2,000 miles to her home to save it from death. (From Warrington Guardian)

AN ANIMAL lover has flown a stray dog more than 2,000 miles to her home to save it from death.

Mum Ros Carter found the tiny dog on holiday in Crete.

She befriended the emaciated pup and fed it hamburgers. The little dog returned her kindness with undying loyalty.

"Wherever I went she would find me," said Ros.

"Every night this scruffy white dog would hunt in all the resort tavernas until she found my chair to curl up underneath."

As her two-week holiday came to a close, Ros dreaded leaving the dog she had christened Freeway behind.

"The Greeks cull stray dogs by shooting them or putting powdered glass in mince and leaving it out for them to eat," said the former barmaid at The Windmill, Tabley.

"I couldn't just leave her there."

Ros, 52, found a Greek who promised to let Freeway live on his farm but she was appalled when she went to say goodbye the next day.

"Freeway was sitting there tied with three inches of rope, no water and no food," she said.

Instead Ros convinced Crete's only animal sanctuary - Noah's Ark - to take Freeway in while she attempted to fly the mutt to her Holmes Chapel home. Her efforts paid off. Freeway was parcelled up in a crate for her 48-hour journey.

"She was so weak when she arrived," said Ros, who met her at Manchester Airport.

Freeway, who isn't yet one, is now getting stronger at quarantine kennels in Crewe where Ros visits her every week.

She will be allowed out in June to meet her two playmates - an Old English Sheepdog called Bella and rescued Greyhound Nero.

Now villagers are raising money to help Ros foot the £2,600 bill to save the little dog.

"Ros has got a heart of gold to do something like this," said Pauline Wills, of Holmes Chapel-based Animal Instincts which is fund-raising for Freeway.

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