Dog dramatically rescued after being stuck in a hidden drain for three days

Uncovered drains hidden by long grass

Coco was found at the bottom of a deep hole

Dog owner Sarah Adams was taking her five-year-old pet Coco for a walk close to her home when the short-haired Pekinese cross seemingly vanished into thin air.

Distraught Sarah, 23, and partner Declan Kemp searched high and low but only found the dog two days later at the bottom of a five-foot deep drain.

Coco had fallen into the hole, which was hidden from view by long grass.

Luckily Coco is none the worse for her experience

Now Sarah is worried the drain - and other similar holes in the same area - pose a risk not only to other dogs but to children and others.

Coco disappeared on Thursday night as Sarah gave her a last walk along an unopened stretch of road serving a newly-built estate close to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

“It's an ideal dog walking spot and Coco has been there many times,” she said.

“She has good recall so I don't usually have her on a lead at that bit. She's quite timid so she would never go far out of my site.

“It took three seconds - one minute she was there and then she wasn't.

“It just wasn't like her. I thought she'd been stolen because of how quickly and quietly it happened.

“We were absolutely devastated, we couldn't sleep for two days, we couldn’t eat for two days, we were out all day searching, we couldn't even go to work because we were so concerned about finding our dog.”

Eventually on Saturday morning, they heard Coco whimpering and found her at the bottom of the hole.

“It was a big sort of drain, really deep, but you couldn't see it because of the long grass. She obviously didn't see it and fell in and we didn't see it when we were looking for her.”

Declan rang for the fire brigade to rescue Coco. But Sarah said: “I couldn’t wait, so I just jumped down in the hole and got her.

“Luckily, no harm came to her, but my worry was if that was a small child - even an adult could fall down it.”

Sarah said there were three or four similar drain on the site without proper coverings.

And she said the one Coco fell down was right next to the road where people were walking. “There are runners, cyclists, dog walkers, children all use the road.”

Gill Henderson, of lost dogs Facebook page Find Jess Scotland, who helped search for Coco, said she could not believe the holes were so well hidden.

“When we were there looking for the dog, there was a woman and her husband and a wee toddler just walking along – there would be no reason to think why a parent would stop the child from walking onto the grass verge and you would never know underneath it was this massive uncovered drain.”

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