Family pet miraculously survives two-day ordeal at the bottom of a mineshaft near Donnybrook

An eight-month-old puppy who spent two days trapped at the bottom of a dark and dank mineshaft in Donnybrook is now back in the comfort of home after she was found cold, wet and hungry last week. Australian Shepherd Sage wandered off from her family’s two hectare property on Tuesday, prompting owner Cassie Warren and her family to launch a desperate search, scouring nearby bushland by foot, bike and car in a bid to locate their beloved family pet. Living in a part of the bush littered with mine shafts — physical remnants of the town’s gold mining days — Ms Warren she had a feeling Sage might have fallen in one of the holes, some of which are more than 10 metres deep. But it wasn’t until they took another one of their dogs out on the search on Wednesday afternoon, that they found the puppy at the bottom of a five metre shaft, just one property over from their own home. “Where we live we are aware that there are old mine shafts,” Ms Warren said. “Where we actually found her we didn’t realise there were any, so we were looking quite a distance away. “We found her Wednesday at about five o’clock and then the rescue crew got her out at about 10.30.” With the help of the Donnybrook SES, career firefighters from Bunbury, the Shire of Donnybrook Balingup’s community emergency services manager and the Shire of Capel ranger, Sage was pulled from the shaft. After checking the shaft was clear of any dangerous gases, a crew member from Bunbury DFES was sent down a ladder and attached a harness to Sage, who was then pulled up to safety. Amazingly, she escaped without any serious injuries. “She was fine, there were no injuries at all,” Ms Warren said. “There was a lot of debris, so we think she might have hit some of it on the way down and that helped her fall. “She was very wet, very cold, smelly and obviously hungry and thirsty but she was fine. “She just needed a good bath, a feed and a sleep next to the fire. “The guy who went down there yelled up ‘I’m going to need a muzzle’. “And I thought ‘oh no she’s hurt’, because that’s just not like her, but then he yells back up ‘she’s not vicious she’s just licking me to death’.” Ms Warren said she would be forever grateful for community members from around the region who reached out to help the search party. “We just had so many people from Donnybrook and surrounds offering to come out to help, which was just beautiful, it was amazing,” she said.

Family pet miraculously survives two-day ordeal at the bottom of a mineshaft near Donnybrook

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