Owner grateful as firefighters rescue dog from hole

A Clarendon woman, Donalee Stewart, is publicly thanking the May Pen Fire Brigade for rescuing her dog 'Palla', after he got stuck in a hole for several days.

"I didn't know that persons were still this compassionate about animals. They were very professional and dealt with the matter like a real emergency. The dog was in the hole for days, so you can imagine that he didn't smell good and was dirty but they put all of that aside. I want to publicly tell them thanks," she said.

Stewart told THE STAR that her pet of nine years went missing late last month and she was extremely worried that he would not be found alive, until her brother spotted the animal.

"I left him [Palla] with my mom because I had relocated and where I am pets are not allowed. We searched all over after I learned that he was missing, but we just couldn't find him. One day, my brother was passing a hole and heard him barking. But the hole was too deep for him to go in," she said. Stewart said that for the next three days, her brother threw food in the hole to feed Palla, but they still had no way of retrieving him.

"I was worried he was going to die in there, but I prayed and fasted that God would preserve him. On Wednesday ( June 1), I contacted the fire brigade after someone advised me to come and they were there in less than half and hour, an entire team of about seven firefighters. They had to use food to catch him because their ladder wasn't able to fit in the hole that he was in. So, they put the food in a crate and tie rope and pull him out," she said.

Assistant Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) Julian Davis-Buckle said she is delighted that Stewart was reunited with her pet. She stated that firefighters are sometimes called to assist with humanitarian services.

"I remember there was an incident in St Ann where a cow was stuck in a ditch and the team went there to assist. There was this instance where a ring was stuck on someone's finger and they came to the station and we had to delicately saw it off. He was in so much pain. We also got a call from a hospital where a man of unsound mind had put on a lot of the round things that come on cans on his finger and it was swollen. We had to go there and again delicately saw off the 'can rings'," she said.