Missing ferret Freda reunited with Leeds family after poster campaign

A missing ferret poster campaign urged East Ardsley villagers to keep their eyes peeled for Freda as hopes faded for the furry runaway out in snowy conditions.

Freda had escaped from the back garden of the Dawson’s home on Queen Street at around 9.30pm on Sunday, February 12, after being let out of her cage in the shed for exercise.

Russ Dawson, 48, and wife Donna, 38, searched nearby gardens for Freda, but to no avail.

The couple’s children Lacey, 14, Katie, nine, Alfie, eight, and Oliver, seven, were desperately concerned for Freda.

The next day, Mr Dawson plastered missing ferret posters on lamp posts across East Ardsley.

On Saturday night, six days after Freda escaped, a woman called Mr Dawson to say a ferret had jumped on to her son’s leg on Mill Lane in East Ardsley before running away.

Mr Dawson raced to the scene and found her paw prints in the snow, but no sign of Freda. He received a call on Sunday afternoon from an East Ardsley resident who had spotted Freda in the back garden of a house on nearby North Street.

Mr Dawson, who collected Freda from the garden, said: “She was missing for six days in all that snow and freezing weather and she was no worse for wear.

“It was fantastic to se her again - We have renamed her Freda Nine Lives now.”