Maggie in Wonderland: Down the Rabbit Hole

It had been a month since Maggie the 5-year-old terrier had vanished.  Her owner Errol Hilton, a farmer at Orini, had long since exhausted the possibilities of finding her, believing her to have been either killed or stolen by a dog fighting ring.

Then last Thursday Mr. Hilton was moving some cows when he heard a bark emanating from a nearby bush.  Surprised, he listened.

"I waited around, and sure enough, I heard it again. So I followed it to this tiny rabbit hole the size of a tennis ball," he said.

Mr. Hilton heard breathing, and quickly ran for a shovel and then started digging.  He recounts, "I dug about half a meter down, put in my hand and then she licked it. It was Maggie."

Back on the surface, Maggie joyously celebrated her liberation by running around in circles for about three minutes before plopping down exhausted in front of her owner.

Maggie was examined by Dr. Chris Hutchings, a Morrisville veterinarian, who indicated that she had lost nearly half her weight (about 15 kg) from her 29-day adventure underground.  She had been able to subsist on light rainfall and moisture from a nearby creek.

Since then she has been demanding scrambled eggs and rice pudding.

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