2 January 2012

Firefighters rescued a dog yesterday afternoon (Sunday 1 January 2012) which had been trapped for up to three days in an underground drainpipe.

The springer spaniel went missing on Thursday while out for a walk in the woods off Oxford Road, Gerrards Cross, with his owners. They mounted a local poster campaign appealing for people to contact them if he was found.

Yesterday afternoon another dog-walker heard a noise coming from a 20-foot section of drainpipe, running about three feet below the ground, in the area where the dog had gone missing. She contacted Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service and the RSPCA.

A crew from Gerrards Cross attended, along with Station Manager Danny Whitelock from High Wycombe.

Danny said: "The pipe was wide where the dog entered it but became narrow further along. The crew quickly located a drain cover in the undergrowth and when they lifted it, there he was!

"He had his owners' telephone number on his collar and I contacted them to tell them the good news.

"He seemed in good shape and he eagerly drank some water while we waited for his owners to arrive. We didn't have a bowl, so we improvised and used a circular metal cap which fits on to the end of a hose."

Firefighters were at the scene for about 20 minutes.