Puppy rescued from well in Fresno County

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A puppy has been rescued from a well in Fresno County.

The rescue efforts started just before 6:45 a.m. Wednesday on East Herndon Avenue between Highland and Thompson Avenues.

This rescue took several hours and was at times grim, as officials were uncertain whether they were conducting a rescue or recovery.

"Initially, we got the call that a dog was stuck in a pipe, and that's kind of all the information we got. We got here and realized it wasn't just a pipe but a really deep, like 100-foot-long well," said Breana Begin with Fresno Humane Animal Services

When the team first arrived, the owner said the dog had died, but the team heard a faint noise coming from the well.

"As we were looking around listening, we actually started to hear her cry," explained Begin.

The team was relieved, but they knew they had to work fast, facing a challenging situation.

The hole was less than a foot wide and about 100 feet deep.

"I think the pipe we had was like 30 feet long, so we grabbed all these random tools we had, and the owner actually gave us a shower curtain rod," said Begin.

The Fresno Humane team realized they just didn't have the right tools, so they called in the experts.

"Playing puppy sounds through that search camera, using the tablet, we were able to get a response from the puppy," explained Captain Zach Irion with the Fresno County.

"We have a specialized search camera that allows us to have 360 degrees of view that we also lowered down with the piping, which in the end allowed us to use an animal snare," added Irion.

After several long hours, they retrieved the female pup, believed to be a husky/shepherd mix. She broke her leg and will need some time to recover.

"Take her to the hospital to get her looked at and see what we can do for the leg. Obviously, we are concerned about her fall. It was a really long fall," said Begin.

As for how the puppy got stuck in the hole in the first place, she escaped her kennel and took off into the backyard, her owners waking up to her cries this morning.

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