A stray dog trapped between two ancestral halls in a Sai Kung village for four days died last night shortly after teams of rescuers, villagers and volunteers pulled her to safety.
The three-year-old black female mongrel, named Bogi by someone who feeds her, had been stuck in a narrow 12-metre-long gap since early on Saturday. Villagers had also nicknamed her Hak Mui (Black Girl).
Last night, at about 8.25pm, a vet fired a tranquilliser dart into Bogi from a gun, and onlookers clapped as firemen pulled her out about an hour later. Bogi was sent to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals clinic in Wan Chai. But Rebecca Ngan Yee-ling, the society's communications manager, said the dog showed no signs of life on arrival at the clinic. Vets found she had a tumour, and was not pregnant as people had thought. The cause of death has yet to be determined. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department will conduct an autopsy.
Residents of Mang Kung Uk in Sai Kung said Bogi entered the alley, between the Yu and Sing clan ancestral halls on Saturday. For fung shui reasons, the alley is A-shaped - 23cm wide where Bogi entered and 13cm wide at the exit. She got stuck 3 metres from the exit.
Bogi was heard whimpering on Saturday, said resident Au Yin-leung, who called the SPCA and fed the dog.
SPCA staff and firemen arrived that night. On Sunday, they attempted to pour cooking oil on Bogi, and on Monday to push her out with a bamboo pole, SPCA senior inspector Yung Chi-hang said.
Yesterday, firefighters tried to push her using an aluminium fire ladder wrapped in blankets. They then rigged a pulley length-wise to drop a net over Bogi to drag her out.