Lucky pup! Dog lost for two days is found at bottom of drain
A dog owner has issued a warning to others after her pet disappeared down a drain and was missing for two days.
Sarah Adams was taking her five-year-old pet Coco for a walk close to her home near Edinburgh Royal Infirmary when the short-haired Pekinese cross seemingly vanished into thin air.
Ms Adams, 23, and partner Declan Kemp searched high and low but only found the dog two days later – whimpering at the bottom of a five-foot-deep drain.
Coco had fallen into the hole, which was hidden from view by long grass.
Now Ms Adams is worried the drain, and other similar holes in the same area, pose a risk not only to other dogs but to children and others.
Coco disappeared on Thursday night as Ms Adams took her on a last walk for the day along an unopened stretch of road serving a newly-built estate close to the hospital.
“It’s an ideal dog walking spot and Coco has been there many times,” Ms Adams said.
“She has good recall so I don’t usually have her on a lead at that bit. She’s quite timid so she would never go far out of my sight.
“It took three seconds – one minute she was there and then she wasn’t.
“It just wasn’t like her. I thought she’d been stolen because of how quickly and quietly it happened.
“We were absolutely devastated, we couldn’t sleep for two days, we couldn’t eat for two days, we were out all day searching, we couldn’t even go to work because we were so concerned about finding our dog.”
Eventually on Saturday morning, they heard Coco whimpering and found her at the bottom of the hole.
“It was a big sort of drain, really deep, but you couldn’t see it because of the long grass. She obviously didn’t see it and fell in and we didn’t see it when we were looking for her.”
Mr Kemp rang for the fire brigade to rescue Coco. But Ms Adams said: “I couldn’t wait, so I just jumped down in the hole and got her.
“Luckily, no harm came to her, but my worry was if that was a small child – even an adult could fall down it.”
Ms Adams said there were three or four similar drains on the site without proper coverings, right next to the road where people were walking.
“There are runners, cyclists, dog walkers, children all use the road,” she said.
Gill Henderson, of lost dogs Facebook page Find Jess Scotland, said she could not believe the holes were so well hidden.
A city council spokeswoman said they were looking into the issue.