What started out as a normal walk in fields turned into a full-scale rescue mission when a 55kg alsation fell 15ft down a pit.

Rocky had been chasing a rabbit just off Littlebourne Road, Canterbury, when the ground beneath him gave way on Saturday night.

The covering to what is thought to be either a sewage tunnel or a drainage hole had rusted away, sending the two-year-old dog tumbling to the bottom. His fall was broken by 18in of stagnant water.

Emergency services spent two hours getting Rocky out. He was winched out by a special crane after being fitted with a harness by a firefighter.

Kevin Reddiecliffe, a member of Faversham's animal rescue unit, said: "Rocky was quite well behaved until we tried to get the strops on him, when he became a bit frantic, but we managed to calm him down and lift him out.

"He seemed fine and the owner was happy. The only thing that was a bit off was his smell – we’d all been knee deep in stagnant water so none of us smelt too fresh afterwards."

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