FAMILY pet Bonnie has been hailed a life-saver after she nearly drowned in a 10 foot deep cavern.The hole which Bonnie, the back Labrador, had fallen into has now been filled after an investigation found a leaking pipe had eroded an area underground.

FAMILY pet Bonnie has been hailed a life-saver after she nearly drowned in a 10 foot deep cavern.

The hole which Bonnie, a back Labrador, had fallen into has now been filled after an investigation found a leaking pipe had eroded an area underground.

Mick Wright, warden of the Trimley Marshes Nature Reserve, said Bonnie, who was owned by Lyn and Neil Drane of Trimley St Mary, had been very lucky to be alive and had done walkers a favour as someone may have become trapped in the six foot wide hole.

Bonnie had to be rescued by Felixstowe fire crew on July 3 when her owner could not pull her out of the hole which was rapidly filling with water.

"When I got there I couldn't believe my eyes... the hole had appeared in the ground. If a human being had gone down nobody would have got out," Mr Wright said.

The hole was two metres from the footpath and had been created by a faulty pipe removing water from dykes and ditches in to the river.

The concrete pipe had shifted slightly and had broken a seal so that water had been able to leak out leaving the area unstable through erosion.

After reporting the problem immediately to the county council and the port, who are responsible for the maintenance of the pipes, a group of investigators went to the site and tested the pipe's pump.

The hole filled up immediately with water leaving Mr Wright in no doubt that if one of his volunteers – who had been cleaning the beach that day and who are all over 50 – had fallen in they could have easily become trapped and drowned.