Helga Tsoumbris, an animal lover from Helderkruin, was running late for a lunch appointment when she spotted a puppy next to the road.
Tsoumbris just turned from Beyers Naudé Road onto College Road when she was alerted by the sight of the puppy and a man close to it. Since Tsoumbris runs her own shelter, Urban Stray and Steri, and is always on the lookout for strays, something about the scene did not seem right to her.
She stopped and asked the man about the puppy but he was very vague as to where he “bought” it and for how much. The puppy also became very aggressive when Tsoumbris approached it and it ran into a storm water pipe and refused to come out.
In the meanwhile two men, only known to Tsoumbris as Ed and Jan, stopped as they thought she was in trouble.
“Little did I know that the area I found myself in was a crime hot spot, ” says Tsoumbris.
One of the men tried to coax the puppy out of the storm water pipe while the other went off to buy a piece of polony hoping that it would lure the little dog out of his hiding spot, but to no avail.
“None of my friends in animal rescue were able to assist me and I phoned the Roodepoort SPCA after-hours number. Theo Mahube was very friendly and helpful and despite the incident not being in the Roodepoort catchment area, he came out to rescue the puppy,” says Tsoumbris.
Mahube, who is a trainee inspector, was quick to assess what needed to be done and went off to a nearby shop to lend a spade. The section of the storm water pipe where the puppy was, was silted up three quarters and it was impossible to reach the puppy. Mahube and his friend Patrick Siyo took turns to dig out the few metres that was required.
After almost an hour and a half of digging the puppy finally was rescued and taken to the Roodepoort SPCA.
“‘Pipe’, as the eight-week-old puppy has been named fondly, is safe and sound at the Roodepoort SPCA and after all he’s been through, he deserves a real home, with a real family and a safe environment. Please contact the Roodepoort SPCA and find out about their adoption procedure. You do have to go and meet Pipe in person (and in puppy) and once you’ve done that, well, you may as well sign on the dotted line,” says Tsoumbris.
Pipe still has to be vaccinated and kept for observation at Roodepoort SPCA but in the meantime they can be contacted on 011 672 0448.
To view photos of the rescue operation click here
Helga Tsoumbris, Theo Mahube and Patrick Siyo, thumbs up for you all to be such caring persons for animals.
Well done SPCA you guys are awesome and a special well done to Theo Mahube