A dog that went missing for days has been rescued from a drainage pipe by a state trooper, after efforts to lure him with peanut butter treats and cheese failed.
Golden retriever Lilah disappeared on Friday afternoon near Binghamton, New York. Her owner, Rudy Fuehrer, was walking his two other dogs, both of them Lilah’s offspring, on Sunday morning when he heard a familiar whine.
‘I said, “Oh my God, that’s Lilah!”‘ Fuehrer said.
Fuehrer tried to use the human snacks to lure the 13-year-old dog out of the culvert pipe, which was under a rural road, but the dog did not squeeze out. That’s when Fuehrer decided to all 911.
State Trooper Jimmy Rasaphone and his partner showed up within minutes. Seeing that he was the smallest of the three of them, Rasaphone decided to take the matter in his own hands.
Rasaphone crawled 15 feet into the narrow pipe, which Fuehrer estimates was less than two feet in diameter.
‘He crouched down and literally disappeared into the hole with a lead that had a choker on it,’ said Fuehrer.
‘He was able somehow to manipulate his arms and get the choker around the dog’s head.’
Rasaphone emerged with Lilah, both of them soaking wet.
Fuehrer was grateful that the trooper was kind enough to get down and dirty to rescue his dog. Lilah’s recovery has gone well and she has been out walking with her neighbor again.
‘Needless to say, I took her out on a leash,’ Fuehrer said, ‘Because I didn’t want any more escapades.’
The incident is far from the first time that pets have gotten stuck in drain pipes.
When Lulu the Jack Russell Terrier ran into an unused pipe and got stuck for four days, her owner Gail Fraiser hired a digger for the rescue. A passerby informed firefighters, who launched a six-hour operation.
They used a digger, cutting equipment, shovels and spades to make a hole in the pipe that was more than eight feet underground. They then entered the drain and pulled Lulu out.
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