CAVE rescuers worked for two days to release a dog stuck underground in a hole near Malham this week.

The dog, a 12-year-old border terrier cross called Buck, had been chasing a rabbit in the dry valley on top of picturesque Malham Cove on Sunday afternoon when it went into a small cave.

Buck followed and became stuck in an inaccessible rift about 10 metres into the hole.

He was eventually brought back out just before 5pm on Tuesday, safe and well much to the relief of his owners, who are from Colne.

On Monday the RSPCA called in the Clapham-based Cave Rescue Organisation which launched a search for Buck but by about 7.40pm they still had not been able to reach or see him, although they could hear him barking.

The owners left a coat by the entrance to the hole in case Buck managed to free himself so he would find something with a familiar smell.

Rescuers returned on Tuesday and worked all day to enlarge the hole.

CRO spokesman Dave Renshaw explained that the rescue took so long because Buck had managed to crawl into a tiny little crack and the team had to use explosives and dig to remove rock and infill to enlarge the hole.

"The problem was about two metres in, there was a large block of rock coming from the roof which left a gap of just nine inches at the bottom. We had to excavate extensively to get somebody through."

By the time, the rescuers had removed the bottom half of the rock, Buck had gone over the top of another rock and dropped into a little crack.

"Eventually we managed to enlarge enough for one of our very thin cavers, Chris Edmondson, to be able to see the dog. He used the RSPCA inspector's dog catcher pole to grab Buck and get him near enough to get hold of his leg and haul him out," said Dave.

RSPCA Keighley and Skipton inspector Richard Oddy praised the efforts of the two CRO teams involved.

"Without the CRO the dog would still be in there and there would be no way of getting him out. The CRO were absolutely great. Apart from being a bit dirty, Buck was none the worse for his ordeal," he said.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.