Pedestrian hit by police car in city
After 27 hours trapped in a dank cave a vet armed with roast chicken saved an 8-year-old sausage dog’s bacon.
Wookie’s ordeal began on Coromandel’s Pokohino Beach on Sunday, where he had been enjoying a picnic with his owners.
Wookie’s owner, who did not want to be named, said the dog was exploring the beach, including caves that had been exposed by recent storms, when they called for him to return.
‘‘He turned around, looked at the sea, and he was gone.’’ This was about 2.45pm. What followed for Wookie’s owners and a group of friends was frantic hours searching the beach for their beloved pet, a search they had to resume on Monday, albeit without much optimism.
‘‘We thought he was dead,’’ Wookie’s owner said.
It was a friend’s dog that finally located the missing dachshund. The friend’s dog ‘‘sat outside the cave and howled and howled’’.
Finding the cave was only the start of the drama.
Wookie’s ‘‘mum’’ said her husband was in tears as he told her: ‘‘I can’t get him out, even though he is there I can’t get to him’’.
Efforts to use a jackhammer to chip away at the rock, and using a piece of wire to try and hook him out, proved fruitless too.
Their friend, Tui Hansell, also tried to squeeze her way into the cave to rescue Wookie, again to no avail.
Help was on the way though. The Onemana-Opoutere Volunteer Fire Brigade fire chief, Jo Adams, said he had heard about events taking place on the beach via ‘‘the bush telegraph’’.
‘‘I heard Wookie was in a cave, had been there 27 hours. I knew the owners would be getting a bit stressed about it,’’ he said.
It was Adams, a 20-yearveteran, who then ‘‘activated USAR’’.
‘‘Their top crew. The highest level tech we could get.’’
It was the presence of the fire brigade and Urban Search and Rescue staff, Wookie’s owner said, that took the rescue efforts ‘‘to the next level’’.
New angles were examined to try to access the cave, and camera technology utilised too, before ‘‘the fire guys decided to get some hot chicken’’.
That was when CoroVets’ James Wickham came into the picture. He had also heard about events unfolding on the beach and arrived after search and rescue staffers suggested a vet be on hand.
He knew Hansell had earlier ‘‘squeezed her way into the cave, but just couldn’t reach him’’ and decided to attempt it himself.
‘‘I am an incredibly skinny guy with long arms, I get some stick about it,’’ he said.
Wickham said he managed to squeeze his way into the cave but ‘‘couldn’t quite get the chicken to the ledge he was on’’.
The smell of the roasted chicken must have worked on the hungry hound however, as Wickham said he then ‘‘wandered into arms reach’’.
He said on the third attempt he ‘‘made a big stretch and grabbed him’’.
According to Wookie’s owner, Wickham and Wookie then ‘‘just modestly came out’’.
Wickham said Wookie was mildly dehydrated but otherwise well and ‘‘his tail was wagging’’.
As for the rescue teams, ‘‘they were real pumped’’, said Wookie’s owner.
‘‘I was taken aback by how happy the USAR guys were.
‘‘They said that typically their work is grim and this is a win for us.’’
Wookie’s owner was full of praise for the volunteer fire staff and USAR members after the rescue.
Adams said the mood at the end was simply one of relief, and that with different weather and tides, the situation could have been a lot more dangerous.
‘‘The look on the owner’s face, you don’t forget that,’’ he said.
‘‘When it’s a family pet you know the depth of that friendship.
‘‘I wouldn’t have said no, and I’d do it again. It’s a family member.’’
There is a sting in the tail for Wickham, however, Wookie’s regular vet. ‘‘He still hates me.’’
Wickham said he had dinner with the family on the Monday night, Wookie spending his time table side ‘‘barking at me’’.
A police car hit a pedestrian while on the way to an ‘‘urgent incident’’ in Hamilton.
An investigation has been launched after the incident, which happened on Wednesday about 3.15pm, near the intersection of Anzac Parade and Victoria St. A witness says a boy was hit and was ‘‘definitely airborne’’ but able to get off the road after the impact.
The police car ‘‘left the station on Anzac Parade with lights and siren activated heading to an urgent incident, and the collision happened shortly afterward’’, a police spokesperson said in a written statement.
‘‘We are working to establish the exact circumstances of what has occurred.’’
They also said they would be providing support to the pedestrian and their family, as well as their staff involved, and that the Independent Police Conduct Authority would be notified.
A witness said they were walking along Victoria St and heard sirens.
‘‘A young boy, maybe early teens, unsure, crossed Victoria St on a scooter as the police car sped through the intersection,’’ they said. ‘‘A Police car struck the boy who was flung over the bonnet and on to the road. Traffic stopped and police and bystanders came to the aid of the boy’’.
Police have asked anyone who witnessed the incident to contact them. They can also call 105, quoting event number P052624400.