By Lisa Ramsden
MEET Maple – or should that be ‘Lucky’ – the cute little puppy who was at the centre of an unusual rescue at her Newcastle home last month.
And, according to those who came to her aid, members of a local fire station, she should definitely be renamed after she fell from a first-floor terrace and got herself wedged in a six-inch gap between two properties along Newcastle’s Main Street.
Following the ordeal, on 21 May, her breeder, Dave Hempsey, has put on record his thanks to the team who came to his aid when the young Working Cocker Spaniel’s curiosity got the better of her and she managed to squeeze her way through a barricade and fall from their yard, which is on the first floor of the well-known local family’s home.
Dave was unaware anything had happened until his brother came into the living room and announced: “We’ve got a bit of a problem here.”
Staring down the drop, and realising just how confined a space the pup was in, Dave and his sibling had two options – get a builder to race out and knock a hole through the wall of the shop they own below, or ring 999 and hope members of the nearby fire station would be able to work their magic.
And that they did!
As Maple, who turns seven weeks old today, spends the next few weeks with Dave before going to start her new life with her new owners, the local man only half-joked that he will “need to keep a very close eye on her!”
Playfully calling her his “escape artist,” Dave said he is indebted to the two crews who rushed to the family’s home and quickly put into place a plan which would lead to the pup’s safe return.
The team members formulated a way they could get a hold of the pup, whose fall had been fortunately cushioned thanks to garden cuttings which had gathered between the walls of the Hempsey property and the adjacent restaurant.
“I just could not believe what I was seeing. I was thinking on my feet and we had two options, get a hole knocked through or see if the firefighters could help, and they were brilliant.”
Read the full story in the current issue of the Mourne Observer.
