A one-month-old puppy that was trapped in a Detroit drain pipe was saved by rescuers, who carefully listened for the puppy's squeals through a stethoscope, in an elaborate rescue effort that has since gone viral online.
The Michigan Humane Society, a non-profit group that responds to about 3,000 animal rescue calls a year in the city of Detroit, posted video of the incredible rescue on YouTube Thursday.
The 4-week-old puggle-doxen mix wandered away from its mother, through a basement grate of his owner's home in west Detroit and into the underground drain pipe, the humane society said. The emergency rescue department received a call on the morning of Feb. 9 that the dog had been stuck in the pipe overnight.
"I couldn't see the puppy. I could hear it," Chris Ouwerkerk, the emergency rescue driver who was first at the scene, said in the video. "I called the shelter, you know, let them know what was going on. They called other people to see what they could do."
Plumbers rushed to the scene and placed cameras into the pipe to try to see the puppy's location. Rescuers realized that the pipe emptied just outside the basement, so they brought in an excavator to dig through five feet of earth to try to save the lost puppy.
"He's right there, about three feet back," a team member said in the video. "Come on, baby."
"There he is," another said, pulling out the pint-sized pooch from a crevice in the ground and lifting him up to safety.
The dog was brought to a Detroit animal shelter, where animal cop Debby MacDonald said he was in better-than-expected shape, just "cold and dehydrated." And according to the Michigan Humane Society, the dog is now reunited with its mom and doing well.
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