recovering.. .but now faces death unless claimed by its owners.

Inspector for the Bermuda Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Louis Ray, said yesterday the owners must realise their German shepherd is missing. And unless they come forward, it might have to be destroyed.

It was on Friday at about 5 p.m. that Parks officers received a report of a dog stuck in a hole just off South Road in Paget, opposite the Bermuda Railway Co. store.

Government veterinarian Dr. Neil Burnie went to the rescue, and found the dog lodged in the five-foot concrete drainage hole. The aging dark-tanned animal was nervous and disoriented, he said.

Dr. Burnie climbed into the hole and lifted the dog out. But when he climbed back out, the dog shied away.

"As I tried to restrain the dog, it ran back in the direction of Horizons guest house, and fell back into the hole.'' When the vet climbed down for the second time, he was helped by a passer-by who prevented the dog from getting away again.

The dog wore no collar and appeared to suffer from chronic scarring of the corneas in his eyes.

Falling into the same hole twice was consistent with the dog being blind or nearly blind, said Dr. Burnie, who believes the owner lives nearby.

He suggested the dog was following a well-travelled route and did not see the collapsed cover for the drainage hole.

"It appeared to me that although the dog was visually impaired, it knew its whereabouts well,'' he said. "For example, it avoided walking into the roadway.'' Because dogs' other senses are so highly developed, sometimes they can be blind without their owners knowing it, Dr. Burnie explained. He said he heard of a dog which used to bound over a three-foot wall in front of its owner's property each day. The blind animal continued to make its leap at the same spot after the wall was destroyed.

At the SPCA, Insp. Ray said the dog "really looked down and out'' when he arrived, but was now doing well.

"We've fed him and given him a good bath,'' he said. "He's really come around.'' However, if the dog is not claimed by its owners or adopted, it will be destroyed.

SPCA Insp. Louis Ray holds the German shepherd which was twice rescued from a drainage hole on Friday.