A beloved pooch called Honey got herself into a sticky situation when she fell down a deep manhole and had to be freed by fire crews. The six-year-old Golden Retriever was left 'jet black' with dirt after she fell into the storm drain.
She took the tumble while on a walk with her owner Kathleen, 82, and her other dog Jack on Monday, June 26. Kathleen noticed she was missing before hearing her bark from inside the manhole and she called fire crews to come to her aid.
A firefighter went down into the manhole to rescue the stricken dog. Honey and Kathleen paid her saviours a visit to thank them for their help after the incident in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire.
Kathleen told Scunthorpe Live: "I was taking her for a walk on Moat Road because she likes to go for a swim every day so we do a circular route round and I was nearly back to the car and there was only Jack, my other dog, there. I shouted for Honey and she wasn't there and I could hear a 'bark bark bark', but I couldn't see anything.
"I asked a man if he could help me find the barking, so he started flattening the grass and I slipped. As I slipped, there was this big manhole space, and the man looked down and said: 'She's in here'."
She added: "It was very deep, the firemen had to go in and get her. She kept trying to get out by going into the sewer, we were worried she'd get lost and go deeper. We kept shouting and shouting and Jack kept barking and barking so it kept making her come back to the bottom.
"She was in shock and absolutely jet black and filthy. It took us hours and hours washing her, we used three bottles of washing up liquid. It was horrible."
Kathleen said she had been left unable to sleep as a result of the incident and was worried for other people who walk in the area.
"I've walked across that grass so many times and I never dreamed there'd be a manhole there. I cant sleep, I could've fell in there, it could've been me. The firemen said even if I had fell in there with my mobile, I probably wouldn't have had any signal. I haven't been back and I don't fancy walking there again."
Nevertheless, the reunion was a happy one - and Kathleen said she couldn't stop crying when she realised Honey was OK.
She said: "I was just in shock, I just stood there in shock not knowing what to do while it was all happening. But when they got her I couldn't stop crying."
The pair visited the firefighters at Scunthorpe Fire Station on Wednesday to express their gratitude.
A spokesperson for Humberside Fire and Rescue said: "Scunthorpe White Watch had a welcome visitor today. Honey and her owner came to the station to say thanks.
"Honey fell down a storm drain whilst out on a walk and the crew from White Watch carried out the below surface rescue and Honey was reunited with her very relieved owner. It was great to see her looking well and a lot cleaner."
