Two dogs rescued 12 metres down mine shaft

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Two dogs rescued 12 metres down mine shaft

Two dogs were rescued after being discovered 12 metres down a mine shaft in South Australia.

A Coober Pedy resident heard of whining from the bottom of his opal mining shaft and called the local council, who called the State Emergency Service SES unit to investigate.

They found two dogs at the bottom of the shaft on Post Office Hill Road.

Coober PedyPedy SES unit manager Anthony Daelman-Whitaker said rescue equipment took about three hours to set up since the group's mine rescue harnesses had to be adapted to suit dogs.

The operation went smoothly and the unharmed dogs were grateful to see daylight at around 1: 30 pm.

When we got them back up to the top, they were very happy, said Daelman-Whitaker.

When pulled out, the dogs are'very calm'.

After initially not knowing who the kelpie-cross and Staffordshire terrier-cross belonged to, dog catcher Roger Boland said the couple started pulling on their leads towards homes not far away.

I said to my mate ''we might as well let them go, so we let them go, so that was it, Mr Boland said.

One ran straight up the hill and the other went the other way.

They must have been mates, but they don't live in the same house kind of thing. He said that they were very calm and that he did not need to use the sedatives he had brought with him just in case.

He said they were a bit bruised, but other than that they were all right.

Mr Daelman-Whitaker said it was not clear how long the dogs were down the shaft.

He said it was a good outcome to have such a positive outcome considering we don't know how long they were down there and that they fell 12 metres.

A car bonnet has been put over the mine shaft entrance.