A puppy in Brazil who got stuck in an underground water pipe for six hours is miraculously unharmed.
The sixth-month-old pug—now named Donatello after the sewer dwelling Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle—was rescued this week after it fell into a pipe that was undergoing construction in GuaÃra.
The pug’s owner, a veterinarian named Kawahisa Yoshioka, tried to coax the petrified animal out of the pipe for four hours.
“The pup was whining a lot as it was so frightened. In the beginning, I thought I could get him out myself by pushing my hand down the tube and pulling him out but we couldn’t persuade him to move,” she told Caters.
It was when the dog stopped squealing that Yoshioka feared the worst and called Sao Paulo Municipal Civil Guards to help her free her animal.
“We weren’t even sure exactly where he was inside called some friends to help me but we couldn’t grab him. I was terrified that he was going to die and was almost crying with panic when he stopped making any noise,” Yoshioka told Caters.
The officers dug a hole in Yoshioka’s garden and another in her hallway in search of the terrified pup.
It was when they decided to take a photograph inside the pipe that they were able to locate the animal.
“After several attempts, they discovered the animal had been washed further down and was actually in an area located outside in the garden,” Civil Guard Amarildo Aparecido dos Santos told Caters.
Officers dug up the dirt covering the PVC piping and inserted a garden hose in the pipe to push it out from behind.
“This could have been a tragic outcome. But the municipal guards were absolutely amazing and they were determined to rescue the animal alive,” Yoshioka told Caters.
Donatello—who is one of six baby pugs—is back to playing as if nothing ever happened.
