SPCA to the rescue
FAIRLAND – SPCA to do whatever it takes to rescue animals in distress.
All services descend on Kessel Street to save dog trapped in underground drains.
The community of Fairland was proud to see all hands on deck to help rescue a dog from a storm water drain on Kessel Street. One of the agencies present was the Randburg SPCA who had inspectors ready to risk their lives to save Sushi, the 14-year-old Labrador.
One such inspector was Cynthia Bezuidenhout, also kennel manager, who attempted to shimmy through the storm water pipes as part of the rescue operation. Bezuidenhout explained, “The pipe was very narrow and cold. We couldn’t really see much, but the animal was stuck halfway and there was concerns of compression.”
She was also able to take a photo of the underground piping showing it to be an extremely tight fit, about less than the shoulder width of an average adult.
To get to the dog they had to dig through heaps of sand that had filled the drains while dealing with all the dust in the confined space. Fire Ops SA officer Pako Mondleke was ultimately the one who was able to fit through the drain openings and pull out Sushi. A vet was on standby to attend to the dog as soon he was pulled out.
Thanks to the team work of all those onboard, Sushi was pulled out shortly before 12:00 and attended to. The community, who had raised awareness about Sushi in the early hours of the morning, was pleased to see various role players come together to save the dog.
According to Randburg SPCA inspector Shiven Bodasing, the organisation was contacted about the 14-year-old Labrador named Sushi who was trapped in the stormwater drain below the road shortly after 07:00 on July 29.
He said that the SPCA in the past has dealt with rescue missions such as this one. “The SPCA regularly gets called out to animals that are stuck in strange and unusual places.”
For them, however, and no matter how difficult the task may seem, they will try everything within their power to ensure the safety of an animal, as Bodasing explained, “We must always be reasonable and the decisions we make must be weighed against the benefit we may deliver.”
