Vicky Blom writes:
Where I live there is a little park with a dam around the corner.
Unfortunately the dam has been taken over by some alien vegetation that covers the water.
Last week I had a horrific incident happen to me and my two dogs when I took them for a walk at the park.
My dogs and I were having a great time, when my one dog slipped and fell into the water near the edge. The dog managed to get out, but my other dog was running after me as I ran to help and jumped over the reeds, not realising that she would land in the dirty water.
But because she had leapt so far, she landed far into the dam, but could not get out because of the alien plants tangled at her legs, and she started becoming distressed.
The alien invasive plants were so thick, it was as if I landed on a hard mattress.
I tried to swim to her but was not moving at all, and realised I’m watching my puppy drowning.
I was desperately trying to get to her and I eventually managed to pull the weeds away and make a path to get to her, just as she was about to go under.
As I was trying to get back to the edge, again the weeds were holding me back.
The next minute I see my other dog at my side, he had jumped in when he saw I was battling.
He used the part where I had made a slight opening in the reeds to get to me, he swam next to me then behind the other dog and started almost pushing us closer to the edge.
Finally all three of us got out, safe and sound, out of breathe, dirty and smelly.
No one has bothered to clean up or make any effort to sort out the problem – I shudder to think what could possibly be at the bottom of the dam.
