Emergency workers save dog from cesspool

Elizabeth Welch of New Hyde Park knew something was amiss when Hopie, her 9-year-old Labrador mix, didn't return from her typically brief backyard outing first thing Sunday morning. "Hopie doesn't like to get her feet wet," she explained.

So after 20 minutes with no Hopie, Welch, who is recovering from knee-replacement surgery, ventured reluctantly out to her icy yard to check. "I climbed over this mound of snow, and right in front of my barbecue grill, this flagstone is missing," she said. "And I can hear Hopie barking and it's far away."

Welch soon discovered the 68-pound dog had fallen 15 feet after the flagstone collapsed above what authorities said was a dry cesspool. "She probably rode the flagstone down to the bottom," said Welch.

New Hyde Park Fire Department and Nassau County Emergency Services workers quickly responded, set up a network of ladders around the hole, and used ropes and a snare pole to lift out the dog after sedating it with a tranquilizer dart, said Carolyn Kasdorf, Nassau Police spokeswoman.

"We're just glad it was a dog and not a human being," added Steve Waldron, deputy fire chief in New Hyde Park.

Hopie suffered only minor cuts, said Welch.

Welch has lived in the house for some 30 years, and never suspected a problem.

"When I bought the house, they said the cesspool had been filled in and they had hooked up to the sewer," Welch said.

She spent part of the day Sunday on the phone with her insurance company and a cesspool company. An official with the Town of North Hempstead was on the scene and will send a plumbing inspector Monday to make sure the work is done, Welch said.

As sorry as she was to have Hopie fall in the hole, Welch said she felt fortunate to have averted a bigger mishap.

"It was right where we all walk in the backyard," she said. "I stand on this square thing to do my grilling. There but for the grace of God go I."