Australians captivated by dog rescue (Roundup)

Sep 10, 2009, 10:29 GMT

   Sydney - A deaf, 8-year-old King Charles spaniel called Scooby became the darling of the Australian media Thursday after surviving five days trapped in a cave on a farm an hour's drive north of Sydney.

   Reporters, camera crews, veterinarians, rescue personnel and well-wishers cheered as the dog was freed from self-imposed incarceration and enveloped in the arms of his 12-year-old owner Jack Newton.

   Scooby played up for the cameras, licking tears of joy from Jack's face and looking nonplussed under the glare of arc lights and the clatter of press helicopters.

   Jack's mother, Melissa Newton, told rescue coordinators from the animal welfare charity the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) that she believed Scooby had chased a small animal into the cave Sunday and had become too scared to leave.

   Scooby resisted chicken treats and every encouragement to come out.

   Feeding tubes and cameras were wriggled into the cave after Scooby was found Tuesday, but it wasn't until a specialist mine rescue team was brought in that the delicate mission was accomplished.

   The miners making up the team used inflatable bags to gently heave away boulders to get to where Scooby was cowering behind a 6-metre rock wall.

   'It's just unbelievable,' Melissa Newton said. 'All the guys at the RSPCA rescue have been phenomenal. It's amazing. We're so happy ... our little dog is home, and my son is over the moon.'

   All this week, animal lovers have been urged to donate money to help pay for the rescue.

   'There's a significant expense to these kinds of operations,' said RSPCA spokesman Matt French. 'We'd like to remind people we're not government-funded; we're a charity.'