Dog rescued from badger's sett

Buy photos » Border Terrier Boh was trapped for four days. (s)

A DOG had to be rescued after being trapped for four days in a badger's sett.

An Urban Search and Rescue team from Droitwich was called to Foxhill Lane in Alvechurch at 9am on Wednesday (October 24) where they found a Border Terrier in a tunnel 4ft below the ground.

The team used seismic and acoustic equipment to pinpoint the location of the 23-month-old pup called Boh, who had a rabbit stuck in its mouth and was unable to breathe properly.

Crews removed earth to reach the dog, while causing minimum disruption to the sett. When it was lifted out it was hungry, dehydrated and had an infection in one eye, but has since been taken to a vet and is expected to make a full recovery.

Crew commander Phil Ball said: "Using an acoustic listening probe, we could hear the sound of heavy breathing which we were pretty sure was an animal in distress, rather than simply a badger inside its sett.

"It would seem the dog had become trapped in the sett with a rabbit wedged in its mouth. This had made it impossible for the dog to breathe through its mouth and so had been struggling to breathe through its nose, hence the laboured breathing we could hear with our detection equipment."

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