A distressed dog was rescued after it had fallen into a hole in Kiaat Street.

According to the chairperson of the Nelspruit SPCA, Lize Pienaar, they received a call from a man whose dog had fallen into a hole on Friday August 25, and field officer Monique Nortje responded to the incident. She said the dog had accidentally run out when the owner opened his gate.

“Upon arrival at the scene, we found a growling, quite bulky spaniel. The hole was not really the problem, but his weight was quite challenging. With the use of a sheet and the assistance of some neighbours, we managed to get him out of there without being chewed up. Fortunately, the doggie was not injured, and was safely reunited with his owner,” she said.

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The dog’s owner, Fritz Eckelmann, thanked everyone for their assistance in helping his dog, Levi, out of the hole alive. He confirmed that the dog was doing fine.

“It was absolutely wonderful to know there are fantastic and loving people out there who will not hesitate to help where they can. Thank you very much once again on behalf of my dog Levi; we really appreciate it from the depths of our hearts. I’m also going to make the biggest donations to the SPCA Nelspruit from now on. I want to urge everyone out there to please do the same,” he said.

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Eckelmann confirmed that the hole is still open, and he hopes it will be closed up before other animals or kids fall into it again.

The hole was dug up by contractors to install electricity cables to a new block of flats being built. Dewald Swanepoel of the electrical company said they are responsible for digging the holes to connect cables to the new flats, however, they were not aware of any incident with a dog. He promised that they would be filling the holes up soon.