A Shih Tzu plunged about 12 feet into an open sewer in the yard of a home on North Fairview Street in Johnston on Monday, setting off a tense midday rescue that drew firefighters from two cities and local animal control officers. The dog was hauled back to the surface using a pulley system at about 12:20 p.m., according to police.
Johnston police said the sewer cap at the property had been removed for maintenance work when the small dog fell in, according to WJAR. That left an opening in the yard deep enough to swallow the small dog whole, and rescuers had to improvise a way to bring it back up safely rather than simply reaching in.
A Two-City Response for One Small Dog
Getting the Shih Tzu out required more than a single crew. Johnston firefighters responded alongside firefighters from neighboring Cranston, and animal control officers joined the effort as well, per the same report. Rescuers ultimately used a pulley system to lift the dog out of the sewer, a method suited to reaching an animal trapped well below ground level without putting a person at risk of going down after it.
The coordinated effort paid off by early afternoon Monday, when the dog was pulled to safety at roughly 12:20 p.m., police said. The station's report did not include further detail on the dog's condition following the rescue.
Not the First Dog to Take an Unplanned Fall
Animals tumbling into places they were never meant to reach is not unique to Johnston. In Colorado Springs, a dog named Kita became trapped in a drain, with the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region recounting her rescue in a Facebook post, as reported by People. Similar close calls have played out elsewhere, including a dog pulled from raw sewage in Boynton Beach, per Local 10, and a dog rescued after falling head-first into a mine shaft in Tooele County, Utah, according to ABC4. In Washington state, a dog named Otto was rescued after becoming stranded over a steep cliff in Snohomish County, as reported by KIRO 7. Each case required first responders to adapt their usual rescue tools to an animal stuck somewhere humans typically don't go.
In Johnston, the maintenance work that left the sewer cap off appears to have created the hazard that sent the Shih Tzu underground. The rescue closed out without further incident once the pulley system brought the dog back to its owners' yard.
