Lucy the Dachshund most certainly did get lucky when she was rescued after being trapped in a badger hole for six days.
It started when the five-year-old dog escaped from her owners during a walk and became wedged eight feet down. It wasn’t realized Lucy had gone down a hole until they searched for hours in the New Hampshire woods and couldn’t find her anywhere.
Here are the details from The Sun.
The worried couple alerted the RSPCA, the fire service and the Forestry Commission to obtain special licenses from Natural England to check the sett at Heavens Gate, Shoot Wood.
The fire service set up specialist listening equipment and a “snake eye camera” was sent underground to examine the network of tunnels but could find no sign of Lucy.
The Wests visited the sett every day and then on the fifth day Mr West detected a faint whimper using a listening probe made with a plastic funnel and pipe.
Mr West, 58, said: “The whimper kept repeating itself. At first I thought I was imagining it but then I realized it was for real. It was such a relief.”
She eventually emerged with a very big whimper following the painstaking three hour rescue operation.
The Wests will be making a much deserved donation to the Hampshire Fire and Rescue’s Animal Rescue Team in recognition of Watch Manager Phillips’ actions. A big thanks goes out to the fire rescue for their outstanding job, without them Lucky wouldn’t have been able to be reunited with her family.
