No matter how well we raise and know dogs, we are sometimes helpless when faced with the strength of their instinct. Friday, November 29, late in the afternoon, Marie Lagüe was walking in the woods, in Saint-Antoine-de-Ficalba, with Oguste, one of her mini bull terriers. Normally a quiet walk, but a friend of hers, Marlène Laurent, tells the rest of a story that could have been dramatic for the dog.
These burrows are numerous and they constitute real labyrinths”
“A deer suddenly appeared from the forest and the dog started to follow it, then he spotted the entrance to a badger burrow and he ventured in,” explains Marlène Laurent. These burrows are numerous and they constitute real labyrinths. They are dug into the stone, and their galleries can be very long, tunnels where the dogs cannot back up or turn around to turn around…”
Oguste was stuck in a veritable stone labyrinth.
Marlene Laurent
The dog does not bark, but its owner manages to spot the burrow and hears Oguste breathing, not far from the entrance. But the dog is inaccessible. A similar mishap had already occurred in 2018 in Marie Lagüe, with another bull, and she decided to call the firefighters. But these, which have moved, are not equipped to disembowel a burrow of this kind, which can resist the jackhammer. We are looking for a solution, as time passes and it is now dark.
Network solidarity
In 2018, Marlène Laurent launched a call for help on social networks, and cavers intervened, including Vincent Bidaud, who also lives in Saint-Antoine-de-Ficalba. From Saturday morning, he went to the site, but his camera was too wide to explore the galleries, it was not possible to act effectively. “So I launched an appeal on Facebook and the solidarity was overwhelming,” explains Marlène Laurent. My post was shared many times, and someone suggested I join the Fontirou caves… A lovely lady answered me and called a speleologist, who came with a deminer. »
Marlene Laurent
Once the gallery was widened with dynamite, friends were able to crawl to the trapped bull.
They will have to use dynamite three times to widen the burrow gallery, the only solution to breaking the stone. But they too were unable to reach the dog, who could still be heard breathing, and as night fell, they had to leave. Marie Lagüe and her friends stay near the burrow, lit thanks to a generator lent by a neighbor. Perseverance ends up paying off: one of the people present, tall and thin, finally manages to crawl up to Oguste and can grab him to bring him back into the open air. It was then 8 p.m. Saturday evening.
“We are now reassured, but we were very, very afraid,” explained Marie Lagüe on Sunday morning. Oguste sleeps a lot and I'm going to take him to the vet on Monday, because he must suffer the repercussions of this adventure, including three blasts, which is not trivial for his ears, but fortunately those who helped us knew how to use these explosives . The next time we go for a walk on this land, Oguste will be tied up,” assures the owner, relieved.
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