Cheeto, a mischievous Shetland pony, had just arrived at his new home at remote Nonning Station in South Australia’s Gawler Ranges when he went missing last week.
Key points:
- Cheeto the Shetland pony went missing late last week from a remote station in the Gawler Ranges
- The pony was a Christmas present for Sarah and Bill Filmer’s granddaughter
- Community spirit and alot of searching eventually led the couple to be reunited with Cheeto
The five-year-old pony had been a Christmas present from the station’s managers Sarah and Bill Filmer for their granddaughter.
“Cheeto had only been at Nonning Station … for four days when he decided to go on a big adventure and escape from my garden and tennis court,” Ms Filmer said.
On Thursday morning, Cheeto dug a hole near the tennis court just big enough to squeeze through.
He headed south from there, towards Kimba.
Search begins
Ms Filmer said the Nonning Station team went searching for Cheeto as soon as they realised he was missing.
“There’s quite a few of us here. [We] went out on motorbikes and on foot, and looked for him all night, and we went out with torches,” she said.
“[We] thought, ‘He can’t be far. He hasn’t been gone long’.”
But at 4,000 square kilometres, the Nonning Station search crew had a lot of ground to cover.
“We thought, ‘This is like finding a needle in a haystack’,” Ms Filmer said.
Fortunately, people around the state were eager to help them find Cheeto.
“People just shared and shared [the social media post],” Ms Filmer said.
“That was incredible. We had a huge response with other people willing to come from miles away, and that was amazing and so generous.
“We had the whole community supporting us and sending us encouragement and love from all over the place.”
Finding Cheeto
On Sunday morning, Ms Filmer received a call from a couple of bush trackers in Quorn, in the state’s Flinders Ranges, 180 kilometres east of her property.
The bush trackers then drove three hours to Nonning Station to join the search effort.
They found hoof prints that led to Cheeto on Sunday afternoon at Valley Dam, 16km south of the station.
Judging from his tracks, Cheeto had travelled about 40km on his journey.
“He’d been camping there for three days, swimming in the dam in the middle of nowhere having a lovely time,” Ms Filmer said.
She said Cheeto was safe at home now and would return to the garden once proper fencing was installed.
“He’s actually in a fortress at the moment in the cattle yards where he can’t get out with the other horses to settle him down,” she said.
“He’ll be back in the garden … as soon as we get it Cheeto-proofed.”
