HAWAII ISLAND (KHON2) -- A young dog was stuck at the bottom of a deep and narrow lava tube for hours and her amazing rescue was captured on video by a man who's making a name for himself on Hawaii Island as the one to call if your dog gets stuck in an impossible situation.
Misty is a 9-month-old Catahoula hunting dog. She fell nearly 25 feet down a narrow volcanic crack around 8 a.m. Saturday morning.
"We were trying to, like, find a figure out a way to get in there, like, for at least maybe an hour and a half to two hours but we could only fit like half of our bodies. And then, other than that, it was like we wouldn't be able to make it," Misty's owner Cody Gomes explained.
That's when they called, 60-year-old, Kawika Singson.
The carpenter, Iron Man competitor, and former military combat engineer has been rescuing dogs on Hawaii island since 2019 from some pretty hairy situations.
"I'm very aware of my situation, or situational awareness like I like to call it, and aware of their environments and the hazards, of course," Singson said. "But, you know, everything comes with a risk, but the reward, to me, is worth the risk of going after this poor dog."
He squeezed himself into the narrow crevice slowly making his way down and finally reaching Misty.
After more than half an hour, they finally pulled her out of the old lava tube to safety around 4:30 p.m. that afternoon.
"Come here girl," Gomes said as he lifted her out of the crack and petted her head. "Good girl," he said.
He said it was such a good feeling to get Misty back.
"I had a big weight lifted off my shoulders, and I was just happy that, you know, he came out, he came up safely also," he explained.
Misty isn't the first dog Singson rescued, she's the sixth.
"I'm six for six on these dogs that I go after that, no one can or is willing to go after," he added. "So I'm very proud of that. And you know, the main thing to get the dog back to the owner, that's my main priority."
He said he films his rescues to raise awareness and is urging dog owners to put a GPS tracker on their pets just in case.
"It's a small investment, but it's worth it if you love your animals," Singson said.
And for all his effort, he never asks for payment.
"I don't bring money into the conversation at all period, you know, because it's not about the money. it's about the reward, the satisfaction that I get," he said. "Personally, I love animals like I love dogs."
