From BBC News Online:

"The search for a deaf and blind dog of 18, which has fallen down a hole on a south Wales' hillside is continuing sporadically into the night.

"Rescuers are using their hands, pick axes and shovels to try to reach Jack Russell cross Sprogget, who vanished under old mine workings in Torfaen.

"It is thought the hole, which Sprogget has fallen into, opened up on top of the old workings from the former Six Bells colliery nearby."

[source: BBC News: 'Deaf blind dog search continues']

Now I have every sympathy with Sprogget's owners - nobody wants to lose their dog in any circumstances - but one has to ask a few questions about this.

Did it not strike anybody that a deaf and blind dog, on a hillside above an abandoned colliery, was an accident waiting to happen?

I'll grant you that even a deaf and blind dog can probably enjoy a good walk with bracing breeze and plenty to smell, but you'd think a lead would be a very wise investment given the inability to call the dog back or wave at it, even without a gaping hole opening up in the hillside!

Sprogget's owner, New Zealander David Sandford, who moved to the area in April, said he believed the hole on the hillside had opened up after recent rain.

Initially he had feared Sprogget might not have survived the first night.

He said: "This is the biggest event of his life so far so I just hope he comes out of it."

Of course one also has to ask: how unlucky can one dog be? Not only has Sprogget lost his sight and hearing, he's somehow had the misfortune to wander into an open hole above an abandoned mine. That's just not fair.

Good luck Sprogget. I'm off to check the sculpture trail for fissures. I don't want to be the one responsible when Toby embarks on Journey to the Centre of the Earth to retrieve his tennis ball...