A miraculous pup from Pilbara is being praised as a ‘miracle dog’ after enduring days at the bottom of a bin filled with tens of thousands of tonnes of iron ore.
Recently, during a thunderstorm in the port town of Dampier, northern WA, Shanny the SAFE Karratha rescue dog ran away from her home.
It wasn’t until several days after her disappearance that her owners received a phone call informing them that she had been located.
Shanny was stuck in the bottom of a dumper for two days. Credit: Eloise Dortch.
She was discovered inside a dump truck at a Rio Tinto port facility nearby, where trains carrying iron ore from inland mines unload their goods before being loaded onto ships.
Travis Burrows, a member of Rio Tinto’s emergency response team, was astounded to receive notification that a dog had been discovered trapped in a dump truck.
‘Never seen anything like it before’
Mr. Burrows proclaimed that it was a miracle that the dog was still alive after falling down a dumper, admitting that it was the first time he had ever heard of such an occurrence.
Shanny is believed to have been stuck in the dumper for around two days, with an estimated 600 ore car loads unloaded into it each day.
Matt Fletcher, a member of the emergency response team at Rio Tinto, rescued Shanny from her predicament. Credit: Eloise Dortch.
As each ore car can carry more than 100 tonnes, it is a miracle that the dog successfully evaded over 100,000 tonnes of iron ore in the two day ordeal.
“I don’t know how that dog managed to survive,” Mr Burrows said. “There was so much ore going into it.”
“Maybe luck was on his side. He might’ve got stuck in between the ores somewhere where he was not able to get hit by the ore .”
According to Mr Burrows, this is the most bizarre and unforgettable incident he has responded to at a Rio Tinto site.
“It was a fantastic outcome that the dog was mostly unharmed,” he said.
Shanny’s miraculous survival and rescue soon between the hottest gossip at the mine.
According to her owner, Shanny has returned to her old ‘bossy’ self. Credit: Eloise Dortch.
“Everyone always asks, ‘how’s the dog doing?’,” Mr Burrows said.
Eloise Dortch, Shanny’s owner, expressed her immense gratitude to the people who took part in the dog’s rescue, including a local ranger. She was astonished that Shanny emerged largely unscathed, with only some minor scrapes.
Ms Dortch reported that the dog has returned to ‘her normal self.’
“She’s being her old self again, being a bit bossy and telling us when we need to take her out on walks,” Ms Dortch said.
The New Red Dog?
Sue Hedley from SAFE Karratha believes that Shanny’s story should be brought to the big screen, just like the beloved tale of Red Dog from the Pilbara. (To learn more about Australia’s most famous dog, Red Dog, click here.)
Red Dog is perhaps the most famous dog in Australia, and even the world!
“I’m sure someone out there would make a movie out of it,” Hedley said.
“The story is so incredible!”
