Saving Sophie

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Despair turned to joy last week when a local family’s pet was rescued from a well hole after 27 hours.

The 15-year-old Yorkie named Sophie began an ordinary day last Wednesday, July 30, with her owner Jim Whitlock, putting out feed on the old Reynolds place five miles south of Clarendon on the JA Ranch Road.

That was at 10 a.m.; and when Whitlock got ready to leave, Sophie was nowhere to be found.

“She was always with me and usually stuck close to me,” Whitlock said. “When I couldn’t find her, I thought she might have chased a rabbit.”

The search was on with Whitlock and his wife, Sue, joined by Troy Ritter and Tye and Cortney Jackson diligently looking for Sophie.

Finding her was imperative. This was more than a dog to the Whitlocks. This was their family.

“We lost a daughter in 1960 to a drunk driver,” Whitlock said. “So we don’t have any kids or grandkids. We just have our animals.”

And Sophie, along with her sister, had been Whitlock family members for eleven years.

As the search wore on more than half a mile away, Sue Whitlock convinced her husband that there was no way Sophie had wandered that far off.

“We went back to the windmill, and as I got to the other side of it, I saw that hole. A shiver went up my spine,” he said.

The hole was 15 feet deep, nine to 10 inches in diameter at the opening but narrowing to about four inches at the bottom.

“I thought ‘surely not,’ but I hollered her name, and she barked from the bottom of hole.”

As the Whitlocks’ hearts sank, they were joined by other friends and neighbors over the next several hours – R.J. Kemp, John Morrow, Tanner Morris, Kelly and Linda Hill, Kelly and Vicki Tunnell, and others – as numerous methods were tried to pull Sophie from the well.

Morrow put a camera down the hole that showed it was wallowed at the bottom, and that Sophie was off to one side.

“We were trying to get a noose on her,” Whitlock said. “We got her front legs in, but we couldn’t get her through the small part of the hole.”

Next, they devised a hook that successfully snared Sophie’s collar and brought her up in the hole. But about five feet up, the collar slipped off, and she fell back to the bottom.

The Whitlocks, joined by Mrs. Tunnell, turned to prayer to guide the rescuers.

“I prayed out loud, and she would come over and we would pray some more,” Whitlock said.

But at 2:30 Thursday morning, Whitlock decided it was time to stop for the night.

“I called it off,” he said. “Sophie was tired. We were all tired. We needed to rest.”

Sophie remained on everyone’s minds throughout the night, and Morrow had a realization that would prove the key to saving her life. Nooses and catches were too risky and might harm the dog, but Morrow knew what needed to be done.

“John called me the next morning and said we were going to save her just like that girl in the well,” Whitlock said.

In 1987, eighteen-month-old Jessica McClure fell down a 22-foot well near Midland. Rescuers ultimately saved her by digging a parallel hole to the well and then tunneling to her. Morrow felt the same method would work with Sophie, and he brought his backhoe to the site and began to dig.

Ten feet was the limit of his equipment, so Chris Schollenbarger joined the effort with a trackhoe that could continue to get the last five feet. Then the tunnel was dug to get to Sophie.

At first she would stick her head up but not come out. Then Kelly Hill was able to get her out and relief flooded their emotions.

“I bawled like a baby,” Whitlock said. “I just love her.”

The Whitlocks are forever grateful to the people who rescued their loved one. For her part, Sophie is safe, healthy, and happy. But now she stays not more than about three feet from her owner’s side.

“We got her back through a bunch of great people and prayer. A lot of good people showed up and no money was exchanged,” Whitlock said. “We owe a big thanks to everyone who helped.”

Morrow urges everyone remember the need and responsibility to plug, cap, or seal, abandoned well holes to prevent tragedies.