Complex Effort Rescues Dog From Pipe

The dog became trapped in the pipe in the Lake Hogan Farms Subdivision off Old N.C. Highway 86 at about 9 a.m., authorities said. The Carrboro Police Department’s animal control responded but quickly ran out of options to get the dog out since the dog's owner already had called to the "45-pound mutt" and tried using food to coax the animal out.

Carrboro Fire-Rescue was called for assistance, and they determined the dog was stuck about 70 feet into the 12-inch drainage pipe. Authorities decided to dig the dog out and called in a backhoe from J. V. Brockwell Trucking Co. The Chapel Hill Fire Department also was called to the scene because of its expertise in urban search and rescue and because the department has a land search infrared camera.

Authorities estimated the dog was about 10 feet underground, and the backhoe dug down far enough to bang the pipe. A firefighter watching the dog with the infrared camera saw the animal turn around in the pipe and realized it was scared, not stuck.

After several minutes of additional calling from the opposite end of the pipe, the dog appeared and was able to be lifted to safety, authorities said. Neither the dog nor its owner seemed to suffer any ill effects from the ordeal, authorities said.