On a chilling Friday night in Cranberry Township, a local donkey named Jill had a perilous brush with death after falling through the ice of a backyard pond. Her owners, David and Angela Hohman, were met with a scene that would send a shiver down any pet owner's spine—their beloved Jill partially submerged and ensnared by the freezing waters. Angela Hohman's initial distress was evident as she recounted to CBS News Pittsburgh, "It was like complete helplessness because she weighs so much. We're immediately thinking, 'What are we going to do, how are we going to do this.'"
In an unpredictable turn of events, the emergency services' response was swift and anything but ambivalent. Contrary to Angela Hohman's fears that help would be withheld for an animal, the “whole cavalry showed up,” she said, per CBS News Pittsburgh.
As reported by WTAE, the multi-agency effort involved an extensive team comprised of the Beaver County rescue teams, New Sewickley and Cranberry Township Fire Departments, and Cranberry Township EMS. Despite not having extensive training in such scenarios, the crews efficiently coordinated, using harnesses and rope systems to move the half-ton beast from the perilous waters she had found herself in.
