Macy has reunited with her parents thanks to the help of Wrigley, the Labrador, and Firefighters.
Wrigley, a chocolate Lab, was out for a walk Saturday morning when he discovered his friend Macy stuck beneath an opening in the ground.
On Friday morning, Macy went missing at Marilla Park in Streator, Illinois.
According to Streator Fire Department Capt. Fred McClellan, one of Macy’s eventual rescuers, “Macy disappeared when her human turned away from her. The ground had collapsed beneath her, and searchers, including a drone, had been unable to locate her.”
According to McClellan, Wrigley the chocolate Lab and his human were walking in the park before 7 a.m. the next day when Wrigley ventured into the area where Macy was and stayed there.
He barked and whined about alerting his owner that he had found Macy, one of his park pals.
The Fire Department arrived shortly after that. According to McClellan, Macy was only 4 or 5 feet underground, but she was bogged down in 4–5 inches of mud.
The rescuers initially placed a ladder in front of Macy in the hopes of coaxing her up. Unfortunately, that didn’t work for the older dog with hip and leg issues.
As shown in the video below, McClellan had secured Macy in a leash, so when the ladder failed, they used the leash to lift her out.
The attempt appeared to work at first, but the ground gave way under McClellan as he tried to lift Macy out from right outside the opening.
“A lot of things happened really quickly,” he says.
While he was semi-suspended over the opening, McClellan was able to transfer full control of the leash to his engineer, Tim Redd. Then, as McClellan rolled away from the opening, Redd and Wrigley’s owner could pull Macy out.
Macy, around 11 years old, was understandably relieved to be free of her cold, muddy confinement after nearly 24 hours. She greeted her owner with much joy.
She was calm and helpful down in the hole, offering McClellan a paw when he went down to attach the leash to her.
He says, “She was doing really well.”
According to the veterinarian, Macy was unharmed, thanks to Wrigley, McClellan, and everyone who helped out.
Thanks to Daily Paws for this story. Also, thanks to Streator Fire Fighters for the video.
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