Arriving by a private plane at the Wiscasset Municipal Airport May 26 at about 6:15 p.m., a 6-month-old bloodhound named Maggie was greeted by her new owner, Kathy Williams, of Edgecomb.
Since Williams lost her 5-year old bloodhound, Lincoln, nearly four years ago, she’s been searching for a new bloodhound she could train as a search-and-rescue dog.
“Bloodhounds have natural instincts. They know from day one what to do,” Williams said.
Maggie will join six other dogs, a pot-bellied pig, five horses, and one cow at Williams’ 20-acre homestead in Edgecomb. Williams said all her animals were at one time abused, neglected, or abandoned.
Williams, who works full-time as a sergeant at the Wiscasset Police Department, said most of her remaining time is devoted to caring for her animals.
At 5 years old, Williams realized her deep connection to animals when she traded a Chatty Cathy doll her mother had waited in line six hours to buy for a rabbit.
“The rest is history,” Williams said.
According to an email to Williams from Ann Trullinger from the Riverside Bloodhound Rescue in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, Maggie’s breeder handed her over to a family when she was just 3 weeks old.
This family was told by the breeder she was smallest of the litter, weighing just over 3 pounds in mid-December. Maggie was taken to a veterinarian immediately and was started on critical care food and kept warm, according to the email.
By the time Maggie was 5 months old, this family realized without a fenced-in yard, they couldn’t support Maggie’s desire to explore her surroundings, and they made the tough decision to surrender her to the Riverside Bloodhound Rescue.
Maggie has a minor birth defect in one eye, and has had eye infections in both eyes, but because immediate treatment was obtained, there is no damage to her sight.
The email also says Maggie’s breeder also called the Riverside Bloodhound Rescue to surrender the other five litter mates.
“The five litter mates had lived the first five months of their life in the basement, never seeing the light of day, until they were rescued. The breeder was only into it for the money and when he couldn’t sell them, he would have shot them, if rescue would not have stepped up,” Trullinger said in the email.
Trullinger reports the bloodhound puppies were all underweight, lacking muscle and having difficulty walking. Since being rescued they are all making progress and are headed for new homes.
Responding to Williams’ interest in owning another bloodhound to train for search and rescue, Trullinger contacted Williams about the availability of these 6-month-old puppies.
“This is the breed who is best for doing search-and-rescue work, they are diligent on the trail with their keen nose. The bloodhound may appear cute, but they are definitely not the dog for most families with the level of energy, drive, drool and size,” Trullinger said.
After making an application and passing a reference check, Williams was approved for the adoption.
According to pilot Ed Abrams, Maggie was a great passenger and remained calm throughout the entire two-hour flight from Connecticut. The flight from Connecticut to Wiscasset was Maggie’s third flight of the day. She flew from Pennsylvania to New York, then from New York to Connecticut.
Not all dogs remain calm while flying, Abrams said. He once had a lab who chewed its way out of the crate and then chewed the back of the plane’s seats.
Abrams is a participating pilot in the Pilot N Paws program, in which pilots donate their time, planes, and fuel to offer transport service at no expense to the new owners.
As an expression of gratitude for getting Maggie to Maine, Williams gave Abrams four lobsters.