Chicago: A 12-year-old German shepherd in the US state of Missouri is lucky to be alive after being buried in a sinkhole for 72 hours. The hunt for Maverick started on February 4 after he wandered from his home in Parkville, north of Kansas City.
"He had on his invisible fence collar," said owner Lisa Van Valkenburgh. "But that didn't stop him from walking out of bounds." Hours turned into days as the entire Van Valkenburgh family searched for their missing pooch.
One day while Van Valkenburgh was walking outside her home she heard a faint howl coming from under the ground. At first, she thought her dog was in the ditch below, stuck in a drain pipe. "I jumped down frantically searching," she said. "A man stopped to help me when he saw a sinkhole at the side of the road."
Her dog was buried alive, clinging on to life. Van Valkenburgh's son and husband came to try to dig the dog out, but Maverick was sucked into the mud and very weak. The family then called rescue authorities for help. It took rescue crews almost two hours to dig Maverick out.
"They had to dig out under Maverick to release the suction the clay had on him," she said. Once he was rescued, the pooch was so weak and lifeless and had to be rushed to the local emergency vet hospital.
It took veterinarians nearly an hour to stabilise the dog as he was severely dehydrated. One of Maverick's teeth punctured his lip and broke off as he fell through the hole. The dog also swallowed a large amount of clay, which showed up in his X-rays. But Maverick gained enough strength to return home.
"His demeanor completely changed when he was reunited with his pack," said Van Valkenburgh on Maverick's homecoming on Wednesday to join her three other dogs a cat. Maverick will no longer wander out of his yard since his electric collar has been traded for a tethered leash.
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