by Thom Morris
tmorris@thekmgroup.co.uk

A dog called Lucky lived up to his name when he was rescued on Christmas Eve after being stuck in a badgers’ sett for nearly a week.

Firefighters spent five hours digging the 12-year-old Lakeland-Patterdale cross out of the hole in woodland near the William Harvey Hospital.

Lucky disappeared on December 18 while being taken for a walk by Gladstone Road resident Keith Williamson.

His wife Sue said: “My husband took his eyes off Lucky for a second and he was gone. We searched for two days but had no joy until someone from the East Kent Badger Group heard about it and suggested that as a former working dog, maybe he had gone into one of the badgers’ setts in the area.

“We searched again on Wednesday and amazingly heard Lucky barking but it was terrible because we then had to leave him overnight until it got light, and that’s when the firefighters arrived.”

The five-hour rescue began at 9am with crews from Ashford and Larkfield sent in with specialist back-up from the Urban Search and Rescue team (USAR).

Larkfield fire station manager Colin King said: “The USAR crew used its snake-eye camera and listening device to locate the dog while the Larkfield firefighters, who are trained in using chainsaws, cut down some trees to make the area safe. The Ashford crew then dug down to rescue the dog. Lucky is a very appropriate name.”

Lucky was taken to a vet and found to be suffering from dehydration and a serious eye infection which required an operation to remove his eye.

East Kent Badger Group’s Martin Newcombe helped the couple locate Lucky.

He said: “Finding Lucky in the first place was a difficult job but once we had I knew that we needed the fire and rescue service as it would have taken days for us to dig her out whereas they’ve got the tools and experience and are used to doing it quickly.”

More rescue pictures in this week's Kentish Express.