82-year old leads search for dog stuck in stormwater drain

An 82-year-old animal activist has been at the forefront of an intensive search for a pooch wandering around underground in a Durban suburb for nearly a month.

Pensioner Susan Samuels‚ of Shallcross‚ south of Durban‚ is well known in her community for her animal activism.

When residents heard a dog barking in the storm water drain‚ Samuels was the first person they contacted.

Samuels then got in touch with her network of animal activists to assist in locating the pooch‚ which she believes was thrown into a stormwater pipe.

“People who heard the dog barking threw food into the pipe‚ hoping that it would keep the animal alive. I contacted the SPCA‚ but they couldn’t continue their search because the dog has stopped barking. It became difficult to locate him.”

Non-profit organisation Project Dog also got involved in an attempt to find the elusive animal about two weeks ago. They turned to social media platforms for assistance.

“Urgent help needed!! A dog has been stuck in a drain for two weeks in Devaram street Shallcross. The dog is barking and people are throwing food down the drain to feed it. The SPCA have been. Residents called the fire brigade but they will only go if SPCA calls them directly. We will take the dog if the competent people can rescue him from that situation. We are not physically capable of doing anything. Please can someone help???‚” a Facebook post read.

“Eventually a dog rescue group got Umgeni Water to put a camera down the drain. However the dog was not located. We suspect the dog may have gotten washed away‚” Samuels said.

“I have become ill with the stress of finding this poor animal. At first I prayed for him to be saved. Now I’m praying that he is dead and not suffering. It must have a frightening experience wandering through a dark‚ dingy pipe‚” she added.

She said chances that the dog was alive were slim.