A dog fell 180ft down a mineshaft and survived for six days without food and water before being rescued unharmed.
Published: 7:00AM BST 18 Sep 2009
Rebecca Lewis, 38, searched for days for Coco, her Patterdale Terrier, after it went missing on a walk.
Miss Lewis, a self-employed artist and property developer, searched for specialist maps of mine shafts in the area and contacted dog charity Dog Lost! who put her in touch with a group of cavers who eventually pulled Coco out of the dry shaft.
A vet gave her a clean bill of health, aside from a small cut above her eye and a sore leg - and she did not require any treatment.
Miss Lewis took Coco for a walk with friends and family on the evening of September 4 when Coco disappeared at Little Brunnion, near Trencrom, Cornwall.
Miss Lewis said that there were no warning signs or fenced off areas signifying open shafts in the densely overgrown area.
"We had no idea they were there," she said. "I had no cause for concern. It was busy - there were four children. Fifteen minutes down the footpath I realised she was gone."
After searching for a couple of hours Miss Lewis, from nearby St Ives, feared that Coco had got herself trapped down a badger set, before a resident of a local house informed her that the area had mineshafts.
On Tuesday when cavers got to the area they found that the heavy vegetation made it too unsafe to search in the failing light.
Returning on Wednesday the three members of the team decided to embark on a first descent and it was the shaft that Coco had fallen into.
"As rescuer Darrel Henderson lowered himself into the shaft, Ms Lewis said she doubted that Coco would be alive and feared the worst - even asking the team not to radio a message that her dog was dead from the bottom of the shaft.
"I thought she would be dead if she is down one. I had no doubts," she said.
"It was a lot deeper than they thought.
"He carried on going, it seemed like 10 minutes. The next thing we heard was a loud "whoopee."
"Then I heard Coco barking for the first time.
"That was an amazing feeling.
"He radioed to say, 'One dog alive and well.
"He said the first thing he saw was two little lights of her eyes.
"Then it all went quiet for 15 minutes. It took him 15 minutes to persuade Coco into this little bag.
"Then he started coming up with her tied on behind in this little bag."
A distressed and very thin Coco returned to daylight and the arms of her owner - though she was in shock and tried to run off.
"She didn't recognize me. She was trying to run into the undergrowth," Ms Lewis said.
"After about 10 minutes of talking to her and holding her she calmed down.
"She was remarkable uninjured.
"I just think it's amazing. I was amazed, relieved, I think it was a bit of a miracle really. It was the help that I got that really touched me - it was the fact that everybody that helped were volunteers."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6203321/Dog-falls-180ft-down-mineshaft-and-survives-for-six-days.html
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