A WOMAN is campaigning for a change to the law after an agonising search for a missing dog in Rainhill last November.

After the dog owners' 13-week search for poodle Harvey, it came to light the animal had been found by Highways Agency (HA) workers just 25 minutes after it disappeared.

The dog - a black phantom poodle - had bolted from a home during a pizza delivery and was hit by a car on a stretch of motorway nearby.

Owners Jude Divine and Shaun Robertson, from Sheffield, had been staying with friends in Rainhill when the incident took place.

Following the disappearance they launched a massive search, returning to Rainhill every weekend to look for him.

Susan Bellinger, from Knowsley, who is a member of the Harvey's Army campaign team, said: "Thousands was spent trying to get him back and searches, feeding stations and leaflet drops were made. The owners even spent Christmas in their camper van in a field hoping he would recognise it and come out from his hiding place."

During this time, they contacted the HA repeatedly asking if a poodle type dog had been found on roads near Rainhill and were always told "no".

However, 13 weeks later, a HA worker phoned them saying he had heard from a driver on the night Harvey went missing saying he had hit an animal on the M62. They dog had been found and incinerated.

Susan said: "Every time they called the Highways Agency, they said no animal fitting Harvey's description had been found.

"Harvey was microchipped and collar tagged. We are not sure if anyone from the HA had checked for a microchip or tag to contact the owners.

"Jude and Shaun had been in limbo, still thinking they might find Harvey."

Harvey's Army want to ensure that people in similar circumstances aren't left in limbo.

Since the death, a 'Harvey's Army' Facebook page has been set up, gaining 6,000 members and the group has become a registered charity, helping to reunite pets with owners.

They have launched a petition has to change law to stop this happening again. The petition aims to ensure, by law:

* All domestic animals retrieved from highways are scanned

* Log reports are filed and circulated to police and dog wardens

* Photographs of the deceased are taken and held with the log report to be used for identification

Susan said: "Please sign up. We have over 40,000 signatures but we need 100,000 by March 2015 to get this into Parliament."

A Highways Agency spokesperson said: “The Highways Agency already has a clear and compassionate policy for these cases. While the priority of our traffic officers is to ensure safe, smooth and reliable journeys for road users when they come across incidents involving stray animals or carried animals involved in collisions they do deal with these incidents humanely and with compassion for pet and animal owners.

“In this case, our traffic officers acted quite properly and efforts were made to identify the pet immediately. Our contractors did scan the body of the dog for an identity microchip but as the dog was so badly injured they were unable to detect one. A few weeks later one of the traffic officers noticed the owner’s appeal at a services station and kindly contacted the owner.

“It is also important for animal owners to remember that uncontrolled animals on our network pose real safety risks.”

Anyone wishing to sign the petition can go to epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/62490.