Two dogs have been rescued after being discovered 12 metres down a mine shaft in outback South Australia.
A Coober Pedy resident heard whining from the bottom of his opal mining shaft this morning and called the local council, who then called the State Emergency Service (SES) unit to investigate.
They found there were two dogs at the bottom of the shaft on Post Office Hill Road.
Coober Pedy SES unit manager Anthony Daelman-Whitaker said the rescue equipment took about three hours to set up since the group's mine rescue harnesses had to be adapted to suit dogs.
The operation went smoothly and the unharmed dogs were grateful to see daylight at about 1:30pm.
"They were very happy when we got them back up top," Mr Daelman-Whitaker said.
Dogs 'very calm' when pulled out
After initially wondering who the kelpie-cross and Staffordshire terrier-cross belonged to, dog catcher Roger Boland said the pair started pulling on their leads towards homes not far away.
"I said to my mate 'we might as well let them go', so we let them go and that was it," Mr Boland said.
"One ran straight up the hill and away he went; the other one went the other way.
"They must have been mates but they don't live in the same house kind of thing."
He said they were "very calm" and he did not need to use the sedatives he had brought with him just in case.
"A bit bruised I think, but other than that they were all right," he said.
Mr Daelman-Whitaker said it was unclear how long the dogs were down the shaft.
"It's really good to have such a positive outcome considering we don't know how long they were down there and that they fell 12 metres," he said.
A car bonnet has now been put over the mine shaft entrance.
