E-Paper
Dog stands guard as pups are rescued from borewell near Mumbai
A female stray dog, who had delivered a litter of puppies merely 20 days ago, stood guard over a 70-foot-deep borewell of a housing society in Badlapur for over 13 hours as two of her seven puppies had fallen in it.
A female stray dog, who had delivered a litter of puppies merely 20 days ago, stood guard over a 70-foot-deep borewell of a housing society in Badlapur for over 13 hours as two of her seven puppies had fallen in it. Some volunteers of an animal shelter managed to rescue the two puppies after 13 hours of non-stop rescue operation, uniting the two scared but unhurt puppies with their mother and siblings.
The incident took place in Badlapur, 52 kilometres from Mumbai, early on Monday morning. Eye witnesses said the female dog did not leave the site during the entire operation.
The incident came to notice when Prashant Ghugare, 25, who lives in the building, heard the puppies howling when he was out for a walk around 5.30am. He realised the puppies were barking from inside the borewell and informed a volunteer of Panvatha orphanage for handicap animals, Badlapur.
“I was out for a walk and heard the puppies howling and called the orphanage. The borewell, a failed project, was closed earlier but somehow it was left opened recently,” said Ghugare.
The volunteers first took photos of inside the six-inch-wide well to get an idea of the situation. “We wanted to know if there is ample space for the puppies to move or they can’t move at all. We did the recording and found that there was no space for them to move and they were covered with muddy water,” said Ganraj Jain, 35, founder of the orphanage that shelters nearly 100 disabled animals.
A volunteer group then purchased a rope and binding wire, and prepared a trap using a pipe to pull the puppies out safely.
“The puppies were too tiny and it was very important to ensure they are not hurt. Preparing the trap using rope and the pipe took some time. Around 12.30pm we managed to pull out one of the puppies. It looked weak. We believe it might have fallen into the borewell on Sunday night when it was dark,” said Jain.
The second puppy was rescued around 6pm in the evening.
“We cleaned the puppies and kept them near their mother who was there since we started the rescue operations. It was a touching moment when the mother cuddled the two puppies,” said Jain.
The housing society members have closed the borewell for safety reasons.
