'I fear Lily has been stolen' - Massive search party fails to find dog lost in Midlothian hills

A Midlothian dog owner fears her missing pooch may have been stolen after getting lost in the Moorfoot Hills.

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Owner Katie Clark has enlisted the help of dozens of others and put out pleas on social media in desperate attempts to trace her cocker spaniel, Lily.

The cocker spaniel wandered away from her home in Heriot, Midlothian after two hill walkers passed by the garden on Tuesday, July 13.

Lily the cocker spaniel has been missing for more than 58-hours.

Lily followed the couple for three miles to Blackhope Farm before becoming lost somewhere near Blackhope Scar, a hill in the Moorfoot Hills range.

The surrounding terrain is full of bogs and hidden ditches making it likely that the lost pet has become stuck, unable to get home.

Distraught and doing everything she can to locate her missing dog, Lily’s owner Katie Clark organised a search party to scour the area.

Inundated with offers of help, Ms Clark says thorough searches for the dog have been conducted and have included 20 people on foot, five drones, thermal cameras and dozens of quad bike searches by gamekeepers.

Owners believe their pet is lost somewhere near Blackhope Scar, a hill in the Moorfoot Hills range.

However, Lily is yet to be found.

Ms Clark has become concerned that her pooch may have been stolen and has put out posts on social media to try and spread word of Lily’s disappearance to as many people as possible.

She said: “There have been no sightings, she hasn’t returned to any of the places where we put familiar stuff.

“There isn’t any reason to why she would have followed the walkers as she is rather nervous about going out of sight from us.”

The concerned dog owner also voiced frustration that the couple who Lily walked off with did not come back to the house to notify her that her dog had been left up the hill.

She said: “They (the hill walkers) walked down to the car without coming to tell us about their walk with Lily, and only with luck, I spotted them getting into their car. I then asked if they had seen her and they told me how she attached to them.”

The search continues for lovable Lily, who has now been missing for more than 60 hours.

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