Last night, Facebook was on fire over a report that a dog was trapped in a storm drain for several days. There was a post was left on the Fox5 Atlanta Fan Page that a dog was cemented into a culvert at a Dahlonega, Georgia Apartment complex and had been howling for days.
Once people started to crosspost this on Facebook, the calls started coming into the police department and Fox5 Atlanta. Seems Fox5 was somewhat humored by this and decided to tell callers it was all a hoax. But the callers persisted. At 4pm yesterday, the TLC Humane Society (Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Humane Society) got involved in the rescue.
The owner of the property was contacted and permission was granted to open the grate covering the storm drain. Sheriff Stacy Jarrad of the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s office assisted in getting the proper experts and equipment to the site for the rescue. T
hey located the animal with a special camera and excavated the area. They were assisted by the fire department, a backhoe operator, and even some residents of the apartment complex armed with sledgehammers.
Once the grate was opened, a special camera was used to locate the animal’s position. Then, when located, a hole was dug about 5 feet down to expose the drain pipe where it was cut, and the dog was pulled out.
However, the dog became extremely agitated and broke free from the rescuers and ran off. No one is sure if it was a dog, maybe a young husky, or a coyote. But the animal was freed from which could have been a lonely death by starvation.
Concerned people on Facebook made the calls pleading for a rescue. The TLC Humane society, the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Department, apartment residents, and other experts were called and they wasted no time. They worked well into the night, ending at around 2am Wednesday morning.
Fox5 Atlanta had somewhat of a “sheepish” blurb at their website this morning acknowledging the rescue.
Don’t complain about where your tax dollars go. A group of citizens and municipal employees got together and worked late into the night to free an animal in distress. These are people you want on your side. It didn’t matter to them if it was a dog, cat, coyote, wolf, or bearded dragon.
Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office
Thank you God for those that help rescue this poor animal. I don't care how much of my tax dolars go to something like this, just help mother nature is all that matters to me. As for the people that complain about it, get over it this is what America was built on helping each other and maybe you need to check out your own help out list. Thank you again….
Coyote or not this was still a living creature and not a joke. The police and the news guys are pretty sad. I, along with many others, think they owe the community an apology for their careless response to the cries of help for the animal. They are probably not human enough to admit they made a mistake… No, wait…! That is a human response. Idiocracy is a sad flaw that plagues the human kind. Hopefully one day human kind will smarten up, but I fear not.
I emailed a thank you to the Sherrif's Dept. for their compassion, and the owner for allowing people to dig on his property. This is wonderful thing they did for a helpless animal.
I'm so glad they saved him and SHAME…SHAME, to those that laughed the cry's of this terrified animal, off as a joke……..shame on you. I hope wwhatever living creature this was, it lives a long, healthy life.
Thanks to all who took this seriously and saved the animal.
Thank you, all for getting together and saving a life.
Thank you all and God Bless !!!!!!
What a wonderful story
I emailed the Sheriff to thank him and everybody involved in the rescue for their compassion for an animal in distress.
I'm glad the animal was saved. Shame on the people who thought it was a joke or hoax. I, for one, am just glad to see my tax dollars used for something GOOD for a change.
everyone deserves a gift certificate to somewhere .. coffee, lunch etc. I know a thank you is nice but a GC goes a long way. Our guys who fixed our car went above and beyond and repainted our rear bumper which wasnt included in the deer hit but they had the extra paint and time. Well we bought them a $45.00 Gift Certificate to Tim Hortons to thank them for going the extra mile.
Thank you for helping this animal.