Loki, a six year old German Shepherd Cross, had been missing for over 2 days. However, his owner, Zoe’s other dog, a Kelpie called Charlie, lead her through thick bush to a wombat burrow – and laid down in front of the burrow.
Zoe heard a whimper from within the dark tunnel.
Two SES rescue operators and a Police Officer from the Hawkesbury LAC assessed the hole; with one of the SES members crawling in with a torch but nothing could be seen. The wombat hole went in under a sandstone rock shelf and turned left and down into the darkness.
It was decided to take a best guess and cut a trench down and under the rock shelf in an attempt to intersect the wombat hole.
With the help of our colleagues from Kurrajong Heights Rural Fire Brigade, a deep hole was dug down and under the rock shelf.
Three hours of excavations with shovels and crowbar, down through rocks and roots eventually exposed the back legs of the dog.
With some more careful digging, by laying in the trench, the dog was eventually freed. To rescuers surprise, Loki wiggled backwards into our tunnel and was able to walk out, unassisted, to be reunited with a very thankful Zoe.
