Dog survives fall down mine shaft
Harlow the dog hasn’t been the same since falling 30 metres down an abandoned mine shaft.
‘‘She normally would be barrelling all over you, jumping up ... but she’s very sedate now,’’ owner Anthea Lowry said. ‘‘We have no idea how that dog is living.’’
Harlow’s whole night was restless now, with her regularly waking and looking to make sure her owners are around. The incident occurred when Lowry and her daughters were out for a walk along a track at the end of Maratoto Road, near Paeroa, earlier this month.
Lowry said along the track and throughout the nearby bush there were a lot of caves that had abandoned mine shafts in them.
The family did not usually venture into the caves. However, Lowry said she took about eight steps into one when Harlow came rushing past and went down the shaft and couldn’t get back out.
She called the Fire Service for help, who on arrival began devising to lower someone into the shaft to retrieve Harlow. Lowry said it was clear that it was a long way down Harlow could not be seen from the top of the shaft, even with a torch.
‘‘We could hear her, we just couldn’t see her.’’
However, pig hunters who happened to be nearby told them there would have to be a second entry to the shaft somewhere. So the firemen and pig hunters split in search of another entry.
‘‘And then you just heard: ‘I’ve found one. I’ve found one.!’.’’
One of the pig hunters found a crawl tunnel where Harlow could be seen on a ledge about 30-metres down from where she fell.
‘‘Had she gone to the right [off the ledge] she would have fallen more.’’
Lowry said they managed to pull Harlow from the crawl-tunnel and ran to the comfort of Lowry’s eldest daughter, Melissah Tyler.
It’s an ordeal Lowry believed should never have happened. She was shocked the shafts were not gated off like those in the nearby Karangahake Gorge, and worried it could have been her had Harlow not pushed past. DOC should ‘‘absolutely’’ take responsibility in increasing safety around the old mine shafts.
‘‘Maybe [not] if it was the middle of nowhere, but it is so public ... It’s not a private place off the beaten track, it’s something that’s used.’’
DOC acting operations manager Arna Lutchfield said the department was currently undertaking a mines remediation project to reduce visitor hazards around mine sites, which would include placing 114 news signs on and adjacent to former gold and coal mining sites. Thirty new physical barriers would be built to prevent public access to unsafe mines.
She said the DOC track at the end of Maratoto Road was a ‘no dogs’ track and was clearly signed, but rangers were investigating any sign vandalism and would replace them if required.
‘‘We could hear her, we just couldn’t see her.’’ Owner Anthea Lowry