Dogs trapped in kennel, rescued

Published Jul 28, 2015

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Two dogs are back on guard after they spent half-an-hour trapped inside their kennel under mud and bricks when a retaining wall collapsed on top of them.

Both animals were unhurt.

The incident happened on Friday at the home of Ronnie and Kamala Govender in oThongathi (Tongaat).

Neighbours heard the crash and investigated.

They found the retaining wall had collapsed on to the Govenders’ house wall.

Unbeknown to them, the two dogs , Juda and Jack, were trapped inside their kennel under the rubble.

Kamala Govender, 58, had gone to a nearby shop with a friend and, when she returned, saw emergency services vehicles parked outside her home.

Kamala had left her phone at home and Ronnie, 62, who was at work when the drama unfolded, panicked when he could not get hold of her.

He phoned his son, Lenny, who alerted emergency services.

“Ronnie thought I was buried under the rubble when my phone went unanswered. I normally feed Juda and Jack at the same time,” she said.

The Govenders have had Juda for 15 years and Jack for five years.

“It was raining heavily and I think that is what caused the wall to collapse,” she said.

Ismail Mitha of Big Show Towing, one of the first on the scene, said they cut open the lock on the driveway gate, fearing the worst.

Neighbours pointed to the backyard.

“While we were assessing the damage and calling out for anyone who might be underneath, Mrs Govender arrived. We all breathed a sigh of relief. She began screaming ‘my dogs, my dogs’. That’s when we scrambled into action,” he said.

Mitha and his co-worker, Anand Ballyram, with firemen from the oThongathi fire department, Shaun Paul from Netcare 911 and Quinton from specialised rescue in Ballito, tried to locate the kennel. They used spades to remove thick mud and pulled out bricks and rocks.

“When we saw the kennel roof from the side, we used a four pound hammer to smash two rows of hollow blocks that were still attached to the wall. We made a hole on the side of the wooden kennel and pulled out one of the dogs. Ballyram went into the kennel and unchained the second dog,” Mitha said.

“Mitha told me to call out to the dogs to calm them down. They were crying and I thought they were injured. What a relief when one of the dogs popped its head out,” Kamala said.

The mud, Govender said, was too deep for the animals to have escaped on their own. After the ordeal, she said, the dogs were fine.

“I gave them lots of love, made them hot chicken stew, gave them a bath and put a blanket over them,” Govender said

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