Not quite a tiger in the tank…
The vehicle's engine had to be disassembled for the creature to be rescued.
IT was a happy ending for a terrified dassie which spent 26 hours trapped inside an Uvongo couple’s motor vehicle engine last week.
Andrew Dickerson said that instead of his two basset hounds, Buffy and Boddington, greeting him when he returned home from a game of golf at Margate Country Club, they insisted on smelling all around his vehicle’s engine area.
Hours passed and each time the dogs were allowed near the vehicle, the same process would start all over again.
The following day Mr Dickerson drove down to Orange Rocks and on his return his dogs again started sniffing at his vehicle, but this time there was a crying sound coming from the car each time the dogs approached.
“It was heart-wrenching the way the creature was crying, I couldn’t bear it,” said Mr Dickerson’s wife, Lorienne.
“Lorienne and I got a torch and, on closer inspection we could see a small amount of fur behind the radiator. We tried to free creature, but to no avail,” he explained.
They decided to take the vehicle to JL Panelbeaters in Manaba. Neil Freidberg and Petrus Pieterse spent over an hour disassembling certain sections of the vehicle and were finally able to catch the elusive creature, which turned out to be a fully grown dassie. The dassie was later set free near the beach area.
“I would like to thank Mr Freidberg and Mr Pieterse who helped us catch and release the terrified creature,” said Mr Dickerson.
