Miniature labradoodle Duffy Burke had the adventure of a lifetime last weekend after getting stuck in an underground cave for almost seven hours.

The plucky little explorer disappeared into a tiny 14” opening in the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu system at around 3pm on Sunday afternoon.

“There was no way that a human head could be put inside the opening, let alone a person,” commented Gary Mitchell of the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue team. “Unfortunately Duffy had disappeared out of sight and sound.”

And so began a long and highly intricate rescue operation by the 12-strong cave rescue team.

“This is the sort of thing that happens on a fairly regular basis as dogs are naturally very inquisitive animals and follow scents,” explained Gary. “Sometimes we’re able to remove a small amount of rocks to get inside but in this instance it was impossible. We were dealing with solid limestone.”

Their first tactic was to try and tempt Duffy out with food, but she was having none of it.

“We knew she was in a tiny little space which measured around ten metres, but on either side of her were two other caves which were far more accessible to us. Our hope was that she would connect to one of them and we would then be able to make contact with her.”

Both caves have been mapped out to an extremely accurate degree and after some considerable assessments the team discovered an opening in the underground section that linked to the dog. And by using a pole-mounted camera, they could see that the dog was alive and well.

 

They were then able to use a noose attached to a long pole which they placed around the dog’s body enabling them to winch the animal back to safety at around 9.30pm.

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“It was a huge relief to everyone, but most of all to her owners who’d remained at the cave throughout,” added Gary.

The South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue is a registered charity that operates on a voluntary basis. It extends from Welshpool in the north, Aberystwyth in the west and across the whole of south Wales.