Dog survives mystery wounding

Ray Bratton said his dog's wound was sealed by the heat of a train wheel

A dog from Wiltshire seems to have had more than his fair share of luck after surviving a freak train accident.

Homer the Labrador disappeared while he was out on a walk with his owner, Ray Bratton, near his home in Westbury.

Homer was found three days later near a railway line with a wound stretching from his backbone to his stomach.

Ray Bratton thinks his dog survived the accident because the wound was sealed shut by the heat of the vehicle. Homer is now home and recovering.

'A miracle'

Mr Bratton described what he saw when he found his pet: "He had collapsed in a heap in the field.

"He had a horrific wound on his side but it didn't appear as if it had been bleeding.

"He was obviously very weak - so we came home, got a basket and rushed back up again.

"We managed to roll him into the basket and took him straight to the vets' and they did some emergency work on him and put him on a drip for 24 hours.

"They then did a rather long operation, stitched him up and here he is now a couple of weeks afterwards and he seems fine.

"It's a miracle really.

"We've worked it out - he seems to have been hit by the wheel of a train, which would be hot and it sealed the injury.

"I am totally convinced that if it hadn't sealed like that, he'd have bled to death because the injury was horrendous."