Warwickshire News Mine

On Sunday morning Jack the two-year-old Jack Russell raced after a rabbit into the opening of a badger set, and despite the best efforts of his owner did not emerge.

Owner Gary Middleton from Radford Road in Leamington, had been walking Jack on Newbold Common when he vanished into the hole in the ground.

He said: “He just didn’t come back out, and we tried everything to get him out, calling and offering food, but he never appeared. I always knew he was okay though and that he was still down there.”

Gary spent day and night on a vigil in the area where Jack had disappeared and Warwick District Council’s dog warden alerted the RSPCA to the problem. It was the dog warden who then suggested contacting Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service yesterday afternoon.

Simon Ellershaw, Incident Commander from Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “We attended the scene at 2.30pm and after discussion with the owners I felt confident that the dog was still in the badger set, but that we needed more technical equipment to locate him.

“We called on our colleagues in the Technical Rescue Unit at West Midlands Fire Service, and with their assistance and expertise using specialist search equipment we dug down about four feet into the badger set and found Jack.”

Gary’s partner Vicky Martin said: “Words cannot describe it, we are so thrilled to see him. He’s lost a bit of weight, but other than that he seems fine, it’s just fabulous.

“Gary’s been up there every day and night and everyone we’ve been involved with in finding and rescuing Jack have been fantastic. We’ve spoken to the dog warden, the police, and now the fire service, and everyone’s been great.

“We’ll now be getting Jack off to the vets to make sure everything is all fine with him.”

Watch Commander Pete Drummond of West Midlands Fire Service described how some of the world’s best equipment was used in finding him.

He said: “We used the Delsar acoustic listening equipment, which can pick up the smallest noise from under the ground to find Jack.”

Hi tech search cameras were also used and pushed down into the badger set to try and find the dog.

Crew commander Pete Sheppard described the operation: “We searched a large area, the badger set was about 40m by 40m, so a very large search area. We set off using the listening equipment in a line, and when we heard something we could stop, better identify the position, and when we had it down to a metre, dig down.

“We found Jack about four feet under the ground, and when we found him it looked like there had been a tunnel collapse behind him which stopped his escape.

“It was only down to the sandy kind of ground here that Jack survived. Because it was sandy it kept him warmer and the moisture from it kept him hydrated.”

Jack was eventually freed at about 6.30pm on Wednesday 20 February and returned to his owners.

William Brown, Warwickshire’s County Fire Officer, said: “I’d like to offer my thanks to our colleagues from West Midlands Fire Service for their swift response and expertise in making this operation such a success and happy ending for all concerned.”

Link to WCC