Bill and I spent this afternoon revisiting the site of Dookie’s heart-stopping rescue on Thursday. It is a site that fills me with utter horror, thinking of the absolutely terrifying seven days and nights this petrified little boy has suffered, ending up (we can only assume he fell) by falling down a steep bank onto the very edge of the Yarra River. Who knows how many days and nights he has been trapped there, but my guess is several. I had a long chat last night with the wonderful Maryke Nixon who, with her three rowing companions, spotted Dookie’s little head and shoulders where he was tucked into the bank of the river, as they sculled downstream. Maryke is a member of Golden Retriever Rescue Inc (GRR). She described what they had seen. They were about six metres out from the bank, which is very steep and well covered with long grass, rushes and a lot of shrubbery as well as quite tall trees, all crowded together. A big old palm tree also grows there and the old dead fronds are another hazard, full of dreadfully sharp prickles. He is so scratched that he must have struggled through them to some degree. The actual edge of the water is mostly a very thick band of Phragmites, a common native reed, which reaches up to a couple of metres in height above water level. It is quite impossible to see through. The only way that they saw Dookie was because he was trapped onto a small ledge of earth, with no rushes growing on it, but beneath the roots and branches of some old willows. One of the women glimpsed him and said .. ‘I think that’s a dog over there !’ Being dog lovers all of them, they instantly checked their rowing and backed up, and sure enough, ‘a dog’ was indeed there. They managed to pull right into the bank and two of them got out onto the tiny ledge of sandy earth, not knowing if he was injured or in severe pain, but no way were they going to leave him alone. Maryke said he was just so glad to see them, and let them easily read the mobile numbers on his collar. It was totally impossible to lift him out and get up the bank with him. I still don’t really know how that was managed but it could only have been when Darren arrived, and climbed down to reach for him, as he was lifted up by the women. It’s probably five metres up to the top of the bank and it is very nearly vertical. There is simply NO way Dookie could have jumped high enough to get his paws onto the upper part of the bank. Had he not been seen, he must have died there. It chills me to picture this, as I know it will all of you. Bill and I climbed down as far as we could, but without a rope, we couldn’t have actually got down onto the tiny platform he had sat or laid on. Well, we could have got down but not back up. It isn’t even flat, but more of a slope so he couldn’t even have laid out in any degree of ‘comfort’. There is one tiny sort of hollow, almost like an entrance to a wombat burrow, a bit further into the bank, where he may have curled up. I just cry to think of the dreadful nights and lonely days he has spent this week, and my guess ~ though we will never know ~ is that he was trapped there after falling over the edge, frantically running to escape the noise and traffic that is non-stop on the road above. We can only thank the sharp eyes and kind hearts of Maryke, Susie, Deanne and Deirdre, all of whom are dog lovers and gave Dookie the gift of Rescue all over again. Bill and I left the site of Dookie’s entrapment feeling very shaky ourselves. It’s a hideous memory that will stay forever, I am afraid. We then retrieved a lot of the Dookie posters that we’d put in various places on Thursday, including one of the dog-walking areas some distance from where he had actually disappeared, and it was heart warming to be greeted by several dog people who asked if he’d been found. The delight in their faces when we said yes, was wonderful to see. They also promised to let others know. Next we visited Maryke’s home and delivered a gift for each of the four ladies’ own dogs, an AireNet Bandana and a card which expresses our deep and enduring gratitude for this miracle of Dookies safety. Dookie himself has some recovery to do, but is resting, eating and sleeping and we must hope that this dreadful experience will ultimately fade to a blur, as life becomes bright again.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 12:38:52 +0000
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