FRANCE: A Jack Russell terrier owner has been sent a bill for €10,000, the cost of rescuing his dog from a drainage pipe by firefighters. It took nine hours.
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| The Jack Russell, Gaia, stuck in a pipe which cost her owner €10,000 to rescue. Image: The Times. |
Aliane Chichi, the dog's owner, was on a holiday in Switzerland when his Jack Russell, Gaia, chased a fox. He searched for her. There were two other dogs with him and they led him to a manhole where he heard her barking.
He couldn't pinpoint her location and called emergency services. They discovered that she was trapped underground in a 20 cm diameter pipe.
In all, a dozen firefighters were involved in rescuing his dog who whimpered throughout.
He said that "They used a camera to find her and then they had to call in a contractor to drill down through the road the next day."
The firefighters warned him that he would have to pay because they had to bring in an excavator and road-drilling machinery and he is not a Swiss resident.
They asked him whether he wanted to stop the rescue and he refused. He said that he "wasn't going to leave my dog to die in that pipe. It was unthinkable."
He is shocked by the bill which equates to £8,700 ($10,555). He thought the rescuers were doing their work as a gesture of goodwill but doesn't want to speak badly about them.
In an interview on French radio, he said that he feels that the rescuers were using his distress at the time "to fill their pockets".
He's been able to raise about £2,000 and a crowdfunding appeal was successful enough to cover the rest of the bill with a surplus of about £900. He is donating it to an animal welfare charity.
My thanks to The Times of 27th Oct 2023.
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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.
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