A deaf 7-week-old puppy was rescued after being stuck in a 50-foot hole for roughly 30 hours in Huntsville, Alabama. The Australian shepherd mix named Toffee fell into a crevice that was only about 5 inches wide while playing in her backyard late Thursday afternoon. Her foster owner, Karen Smith, said the crack in the ground appeared after recent rainstorms.
Smith and her family reached out for help on a local Facebook page for lost animals which prompted the photo to go viral. People on both Facebook and Twitter suggested several ways that would help Karen get Toffee out of the hole, but none of those rescue techniques were successful. It wasn’t until 12:30 a.m. on Saturday that volunteers from the Paint Rock Fire Department rescued Toffee with a snare trap. The rescue crew learned about the situation after seeing her story on the local news.
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“I still can’t believe she’s really out and she’s right here and I’m holding her,” Smith told CBS affiliate WHNT-TV when Toffee was rescued. “This is a miracle.”
Smith was also overwhelmed by the amount of support she received from volunteers who brought food, water, and light to help rescue her pup that night.
Toffee is back at home with Karen who assures something like this will not happen again. “I do not want to put her down — she’s probably going to sleep with me tonight, I’m not going to lie. And we’re going to cover that hole up,” she told the station.
