Chilean firefighters rescue dog who got her head stuck in a steel tube

NTD Staff
By NTD Staff
March 1, 2017News
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Firefighters from Antofagasta, a port city in northern Chile, were able to free a dog whose head became stuck in a steel tube.

On Monday (February 27) morning, fire officials received a call from a local resident who asked for extrication equipment to free her puppy’s head. They learned that six-month-old puppy, Macha, was playing when she got caught.

Macha’s owner, Nuri Cortes, said her family called the fire brigade after they tried to free the dog’s head without success.

“My husband jumped out the bathroom window when he realized the dog’s head was stuck in the tube. We ran out and tried to help her, we used oil, we tried to help. We ran back and forth. We called my son but it didn’t work,” Cortes said.

Macha’s head was stuck so tightly that she could only manage a whimper.

“When we arrived at the house, the dog was lying down with the tube on its head and the only thing we heard was a whimper because she was so stuck that the dog couldn’t even bark,” said local firemen, Roberto Zuniga.

Using a variety of methods, the firemen struggled to free her.

“It was a tube that was approximately four inches (10 cm) in diameter and 7 to 10 millimeters (.25 to .4 inches) thick. So it was quite a thick tube,” said another local firemen Marcos Lara.

It took firemen about an hour and a half to free the dog’s head, using a grinder.

“A 4-inch angular grinder was used with a shirt so that the incandescent particles would not damage her coat. The steel tube was cooled only with water. We were cutting and cooling, cutting. A job done with surgical precision,” Lara added.

Macha has now been reunited with her owner and has put the nasty ordeal behind her. Cortes hopes Macha learned her lesson and will be more careful in the future.

(REUTERS)

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