Labrador Alerts Owner to Missing Elderly Dog That Had Fallen Into Sinkhole; Firefighters Then Take Over
A week ago, a golden retriever named Macy went missing at a park in Streator, Illinois.
Her concerned owners, the Price family, immediately put out the word, and Streator Animal Control shared the family’s information.
“12 year old Macy a golden Retriever just within the last few minutes went Mia at marilla park,” the post read. “They are out scouring the park for her. If you happen to spot her please let me know.”
They looked and looked, but there was no sign of the elderly dog — and there was a reason for that: She’d fallen into a sinkhole and had dropped out of sight.
In the comments on the animal control’s post, Stephanie Price explained that the dog might be in the woods or she might have chased a car that looked like Price’s sister’s (Macy apparently recognizes the cars of close family members), but she wasn’t a runner and hadn’t gone missing like this before.
Neighbors and strangers offered to help look for her. Someone with a drone scanned the area. But it was another dog that ultimately came to the rescue.
According to Shaw Local News Network, a chocolate Labrador retriever named Wrigley, owned by a man named AJ, first spotted Macy during a walk at the park.
Initially, Wrigley growled at the dog looking up at him from the bottom of the 5-foot-deep hole, but then he started barking. Macy barked back. Once AJ realized what must have happened, firefighters were called.
The Streator Fire Department shared footage of the rescue, which involved Fire Chief Fred McClellan going down a ladder, securing Macy with some webbing, and then hauling her out of the hole.
“This dog had fell into a five-foot hole and (had) been missing for about 24 hours, from what I understand,” McClellan said, according to WHOI-TV.
“If you can see me falling, it was because the ground started to break on my one foot underneath, so I stepped across the hole to grab and then it collapsed again.
“Luckily my engineer Tim Redd was able to finish pulling the dog out safely.”
Macy’s owner was on-site and gave the golden oldie a big hug — mud and all — as soon as she was out of the pit.
“The owner got very muddy from the dog,” McClellan said.
Animal control updated Macy’s lost post to a found one, and the group also shared a photo of her canine hero.
“Wrigley here is who Found Macy!” read the post on Saturday. “Wrigley very easily also could have fallen into the sink hole but luckily everything worked out! Thank you everyone who looked, Jordon for taking his drone out last night…thank you for all the prayers and shares. Macy immediately went to the vet and checked out fine!”
Members of the fire department also recognized that calling them to assist with the sinkhole rescue was the right thing to do, and they suggested that anyone dealing with a similar situation call them for help rather than attempt a rescue themselves.
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