Post by Sharon Faulkner on Aug 1, 2006 7:17:25 GMT -5
Pig dogs hog the limelight ;D
August 1, 2006
By Lindy Laird
Sonny the dog had a pig of a day on Sunday. That wouldn't normally be a bother for a pig dog. But, when Sonny and his kennel mate Chico - hunting near Waipu Caves with their good keen bloke Graeme Helleur on Sunday morning - got the scent of a porker and took off, both dogs and the big boar ended up tumbling down a 35m cave shaft. Chico would be back above ground later that day but Sonny's rumble in the jungle was about to turn into a 24-hour underground ordeal.
Above ground and some distance away, Mr Helleur and his hunting companions had no idea where the dogs and their quarry had vanished to. One minute they'd been there; the next it was as if they'd fallen through a hole in the ground. After a fruitless search and much calling, Mr Helleur was pretty sure the dogs had fallen down one of the shafts, or tomo, the area is riddled with.
Then he heard barking and, after another long search, traced it to a bush-camouflaged cave mouth. Mr Helleur had no choice but to go for help from local caving and abseiling guide Ian Fox, proprietor of nearby Peak Adventures, and Mr Fox's off-sider Fletcher Hillier.
A few hours later, when the rescuers lowered themselves into the shaft, they came face to face with one of the most bizarre underground situations they'd seen, Mr Fox said. In a chamber 6m down the vertical tomo huddled a frightened Chico. At least another 30m deeper down, out of sight in a cavern at the bottom of a vertical shaft, was Sonny. But on a ledge between the rescuers and a possibly injured Sonny, and within scrapping distance of the frightened Chico, was a very much alive, very angry, very big wild pig. "The dog wasn't going anywhere near that bloody pig," Mr Helleur said. "If it had come to a fight the dog would have lost, and the dog knew it."
With cigarette filters shoved in his ears to dull the sound, one of the hunters reached as far as he could into the tomo and shot the pig. Trussed up with ropes and with the others hanging on to him for grim death, Mr Helleur was able to ease himself far enough in to reach Chico and pull her to safety. But it was too dark to reach Sonny, who'd fallen down several levels of shafts and ledges.
Yesterday morning the operation to rescue Sonny was launched in full, with three cavers - Mr Fox, Mr Hillier and Fraser Wright - lowering themselves into the hole. Above ground an anxious Mr Helleur and his hunting mate Nicholas Marshall waited for them to resurface two hours after the men had started their descent. "He's a good dog," Mr Helleur said of the six year old bitza. "A good pig dog is a genuine dog, a trusty dog. Sonny's one of the best."
And then came the strangely amplified call from below - "We've got him, he seems okay". It took another 30 minutes for the men to hoist themselves and one worse-for-wear, shaken dog to the surface. Sonny had a wound above one eye and a fat lip. He was unsteady on his feet, shaken and hungry, and so keen to relieve himself he nearly peed all over his master's boots. But the extraordinary ordeal had ended happily, and around Waipu Caves for years to come they'll be telling a pig-hunting story that could have come straight out of the pages of a Barry Crump book.
* Sonny reveals long-lost tomo
The only living creatures Ian Fox and Fraser Wright, members of the Northland Search and Rescue emergency caving team, have rescued from caves before are kauri snails. They have, though, come across countless dead sheep down the labyrinthine Waipu Caves.
As well as the chance to carry out a live rescue yesterday, Mr Fox was thrilled to get acquainted with the tomo Sonny, Chico and the pig had gone down. He'd been looking for the alternative opening to a cave system he'd explored three years ago, after entering at another point several kilometres away.
Sonny's tomo had first been navigated in 1985 but many keen cavers had tried in vain to find it since then, Mr Fox said.
www.northernadvocate.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3694797&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=
August 1, 2006
By Lindy Laird
Sonny the dog had a pig of a day on Sunday. That wouldn't normally be a bother for a pig dog. But, when Sonny and his kennel mate Chico - hunting near Waipu Caves with their good keen bloke Graeme Helleur on Sunday morning - got the scent of a porker and took off, both dogs and the big boar ended up tumbling down a 35m cave shaft. Chico would be back above ground later that day but Sonny's rumble in the jungle was about to turn into a 24-hour underground ordeal.
Above ground and some distance away, Mr Helleur and his hunting companions had no idea where the dogs and their quarry had vanished to. One minute they'd been there; the next it was as if they'd fallen through a hole in the ground. After a fruitless search and much calling, Mr Helleur was pretty sure the dogs had fallen down one of the shafts, or tomo, the area is riddled with.
Then he heard barking and, after another long search, traced it to a bush-camouflaged cave mouth. Mr Helleur had no choice but to go for help from local caving and abseiling guide Ian Fox, proprietor of nearby Peak Adventures, and Mr Fox's off-sider Fletcher Hillier.
A few hours later, when the rescuers lowered themselves into the shaft, they came face to face with one of the most bizarre underground situations they'd seen, Mr Fox said. In a chamber 6m down the vertical tomo huddled a frightened Chico. At least another 30m deeper down, out of sight in a cavern at the bottom of a vertical shaft, was Sonny. But on a ledge between the rescuers and a possibly injured Sonny, and within scrapping distance of the frightened Chico, was a very much alive, very angry, very big wild pig. "The dog wasn't going anywhere near that bloody pig," Mr Helleur said. "If it had come to a fight the dog would have lost, and the dog knew it."
With cigarette filters shoved in his ears to dull the sound, one of the hunters reached as far as he could into the tomo and shot the pig. Trussed up with ropes and with the others hanging on to him for grim death, Mr Helleur was able to ease himself far enough in to reach Chico and pull her to safety. But it was too dark to reach Sonny, who'd fallen down several levels of shafts and ledges.
Yesterday morning the operation to rescue Sonny was launched in full, with three cavers - Mr Fox, Mr Hillier and Fraser Wright - lowering themselves into the hole. Above ground an anxious Mr Helleur and his hunting mate Nicholas Marshall waited for them to resurface two hours after the men had started their descent. "He's a good dog," Mr Helleur said of the six year old bitza. "A good pig dog is a genuine dog, a trusty dog. Sonny's one of the best."
And then came the strangely amplified call from below - "We've got him, he seems okay". It took another 30 minutes for the men to hoist themselves and one worse-for-wear, shaken dog to the surface. Sonny had a wound above one eye and a fat lip. He was unsteady on his feet, shaken and hungry, and so keen to relieve himself he nearly peed all over his master's boots. But the extraordinary ordeal had ended happily, and around Waipu Caves for years to come they'll be telling a pig-hunting story that could have come straight out of the pages of a Barry Crump book.
* Sonny reveals long-lost tomo
The only living creatures Ian Fox and Fraser Wright, members of the Northland Search and Rescue emergency caving team, have rescued from caves before are kauri snails. They have, though, come across countless dead sheep down the labyrinthine Waipu Caves.
As well as the chance to carry out a live rescue yesterday, Mr Fox was thrilled to get acquainted with the tomo Sonny, Chico and the pig had gone down. He'd been looking for the alternative opening to a cave system he'd explored three years ago, after entering at another point several kilometres away.
Sonny's tomo had first been navigated in 1985 but many keen cavers had tried in vain to find it since then, Mr Fox said.
www.northernadvocate.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3694797&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=