[at-l] "Mountain Cur" Tail

[PUDSCRAWLER at aol.com (PUDSCRAWLER@aol.com)]

dated: 09:57 AM EST
Dog Stuck in Sinkhole for 16 Days Rescued


TOWNSEND, Tenn. (Nov. 16) - Trapped for 16 days down a 70-foot-sinkhole, a 
dog named Buck will live to hunt another day after being rescued by rangers near 
the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

"The dog was emaciated and had some bruising, but was able to walk around," 
Ranger Rick Brown said after spending several hours Tuesday rigging up ropes 
and rappelling down the hole to lift the 2 1/2-year-old blond Mountain Cur to 
the surface.

"Aside from being emaciated, exhausted and sore, the dog appeared to be in 
pretty good shape," Brown said.

The dog, a medium-sized breed common with the pioneers - the book "Old 
Yeller" was about a Mountain Cur but played by a yellow Labrador in the movie - was 
recovering at a veterinarian's office, Smokies spokesman Bob Miller said 
Wednesday.

Hikers at a backcountry campsite off the Ace Gap Trail in the park reported 
hearing a dog barking on Monday and tracked the sound to a 30-by-40-foot ground 
hole about 300 yards away.

A builder working on a nearby house was able to get close enough to the edge 
to see the dog about 40 feet down, but couldn't reach him. That evening, park 
rangers were called to the sinkhole but they couldn't hear the dog.

Brown and three other rangers returned around 10 a.m. Tuesday. Brown climbed 
40 feet down to a landing, but there was no sign of the dog. Using a light, he 
found a small opening and a second dropoff.

Peering through, he saw the dog lying at the bottom, another 30 feet down. 
When he called out, the dog stood up and looked at him. Using a makeshift 
harness, the rangers lifted the dog out of the cave around 3 p.m.

Buck wore a radio collar and a tag identifying his owner, a Townsend man who 
lost track of the dog while hunting raccoons 16 days before. The owner was 
"very appreciative" to get Buck back, Miller said.

The park doesn't plan to send him a bill for the recovery.

"Sometimes