Stuck dog rescued
JON HOUZET and CANDICE BRADFIELD
THANKS to the combined efforts of the fire department, a local security company, a vet and the SPCA, a stray dog was rescued after getting into a sticky situation at the Port Alfred Truck Stop on Monday.
Truck Stop manager Grant Cottrell said he arrived after the drama had already started, when a pump attendant found the traumatised dog with its head stuck in a hole in the undercarriage of a trailer.
"That was at 6am and there's no telling how long it had been there,” said Cottrell. "It might have chased something and got stuck.”
| UNLUCKY DOG: The Ndlambe fire department used the jaws of life to lift a trailer at the Port Alfred Truck Stop in an attempt to rescue a stray dog which got its head stuck in a hole. The dog had to be given a tranquiliser before it could be freed Picture: GRANT COTTRELL |
He said the fire department was called to help and used the jaws of life to lift the trailer, but the dog was still stuck.
"Everyone thought it was going to die,” he said.
SPCA manager Forbes Coutts said MultiSecurity and the fire department called the SPCA at about 7am to come help.
He said they also thought the dog must have chased after a rat or other animal and got its head stuck in the small hole in a beam under the container.
"It was a matter of calming the dog down,” he said.
Assistant manager at the SPCA, Lisa Nyanya, called local veterinarian Dr Leon de Bruin who advised her on how to carry out "the medical side of things”. Dr de Bruin told TotT he assisted with the sedation in terms of dosage and the correct tranquiliser to use.
"Obviously if it starts thrashing around its not good for the neck,” he said.
"Lisa was extremely capable as always,” said Coutts.
Once the dog was taken to the SPCA it was given a check up and antibiotics and they made sure the swelling went down.
"The dog is absolutely fine,” said Coutts.
He said that the owners had been contacted and he was hoping they would come to the SPCA sometime on Wednesday.
