An unusual animal rescue tale

 

I had to boggle a bit at this news report.

“Peo” and “Finn,” two shepherd pups, got themselves into an awkward situation on June 19 after their exploring took them deep into a tortoise burrow.

The 100-pound tortoise is named Oscar, and owner Kathleen became concerned when she realized her two dogs were underground, and Oscar was blocking the way, in no hurry to move.

So the San Bernardino County Fire was contacted and made their way out to the very unusual call.

. . .

The burrow was impressive, and something Oscar had clearly put a lot of time and effort into. But he was far down in the tunnel, and there was no way to reach him, so the firefighters tried to figure out a way to coax him out.

Many tortoises consider watermelon a very tasty treat, so crews used a chunk of watermelon to try to draw the huge reptile out — but Oscar decided he would rather stay in his den.

. . .

“With Oscar blocking the exit, crews worked to dig an access hole to rescue the dogs,” the post continued. “After an hour of digging crews were able to get the puppies out of the den.

“‘Peo’ and ‘Finn’, were unharmed & happy to reunite with their dog mom Kathleen.

There's more at the link.

Here's a brief video report about the rescue.

I've heard of lots of animal rescues, and played a part in a few of them, but I've never heard of having to rescue puppies from a tortoise!

Peter