THE Kloof & Highway SPCA and Daniel Stewart from Wild Capture, went to the rescue of a baby goat that had been stuck down a water drain for almost three days.
Nikki Vacy-Lyle, Sydney Nkomo, and Clement Sithole from the SPCA and Daniel Stewart, a specialist in animal rescue, arrived on the scene in Inchanga to find a distraught nanny goat calling frantically for her baby who was pitifully calling back.
The mother goat was lowered down into the drain in the hope that the kid would respond to her calls and make its way towards the opening of the drain, but this proved was unsuccessful. Daniel’s tracker dog, Abby was then lowered down behind the kid to encourage it to move towards the opening. However, this was also unsuccessful.
Daniel attempted to get into the storm water drain but couldn’t fit, so it was to petite, Nikki Vacy-Lyle, an SPCA inspector, who managed to manoeuvre her way into the awkward tunnel. The water pipe was off the larger one which was significantly smaller, at an angle, and was also on an incline. Nikki lay on her back and slowly inched her way down more than 10m below the roadway towards the kid.
With Abby encouraging the frightened kid to move towards Nikki, Nikki was able to grab it. She was pulled back down the tunnel, by her harness whilst holding onto the young kid. The whole rescue took an intensive three hours.
Nikki said, “Being in such a tiny tunnel with no space to move properly was terrifying, but when I grabbed onto the baby goat, it made it all worthwhile.”
The kid was assessed after its ordeal and apart from being ravenous, he was in surprisingly good condition and was reunited with his long-suffering mother.
