In late October, the Kloof and Highway SPCA received a call about a little animal who’d gotten herself very stuck.
Fireworks had filled the sky the night before in celebration of Diwali, and the loud claps and bangs had sent a nervous puppy named Pip into an open drainpipe in search of safety.
The family of the puppy realized she was missing when they heard tiny cries echoing from the pipe. They tried to lure her out, but Pip wouldn’t budge.
“We tried up until 9 p.m. or so,” Ndonie Shezi, one of Pip’s owners, told The Dodo. “We all hardly slept, and by 5 a.m., we were up trying again to rescue her.”
When their efforts failed, Petros Simamane, an inspector for the Kloof and Highway SPCA, came to the rescue.
Simamane knew he’d have to dig into the ground and cut the pipe to get her out. He left to get a spade and pickaxe, but when he returned, the puppy had squirmed further back into the drain.
“She was going in reverse, going backwards,” Simamane told the Dodo. “In the pipe, there was also a drop, so I think she fell into the drop, where she could not climb up.”
Simamane realized he needed a drain camera. But to access the special equipment, he needed a plumber. So he called Ganga Plumbers, a local company, to see if someone could help.
Rishi Haripersad of Ganga Plumbers had another job lined up when he got the call from Simamane. But when Haripersad told management about the puppy stuck in the drain, the company’s director gave him the green light to help.
“The director himself said, ‘Let’s pause all the work. Let’s go help rescue this puppy,’” Haripersad told The Dodo.
Haripersad snaked the camera into the drain. About 60 feet in, the screen lit up with Pip’s wide-eyed face.
As it turned out, the drainpipe had another opening on the other side of a fence, where they could begin to dig.
After hours of work, Simamane finally pulled Pip out of the drain. The puppy was caked in mud and exhausted. Thankfully, she started to feel a little better after a warm bath, a meal, a vet checkup and plenty of cuddles.
After time spent recovering at the shelter, Pip has returned home to the loving arms of her family.
Haripersad said he couldn’t have been happier to assist with the rescue: “It’s quite satisfying to know we’ve helped a helpless pup.”
And after just a few short weeks, Pip has grown into a healthy, happy girl — and too big to fit into a drainpipe ever again.
