Heart-warming moment Italian firefighters free two dogs trapped in a fox den after five-hour rescue operation
- Two dogs trapped in a tunnel in Lomazzo, Italy were rescued by firefighters
- The animals, uninjured but dusty, had gotten trapped while chasing a fox
- The heartwarming operation was caught on video and shared on social media
This is the moment two dogs were rescued after getting trapped in a tunnel while chasing a fox.
Firefighters in Lomazzo, Italy, had to dig with their hands and use small bulldozers to get the trapped creatures – who were very dusty but not injured – out, in an operation which took more than five hours.
The heartwarming moment was captured on video on January 1 and shared to Twitter by Viggili del Fuoco, the national fire and rescue service.
A dog is cradled by a smiling firefighter after it was rescued from a tunnel in Lomazzo, Italy
The second dog is rescued after the five-hour operation, in which the team had to use their hands as well as a small bulldozer to dig
The fire brigade began their efforts around 1pm in the afternoon but the last crews didn’t head back until 7pm, local news site Comozero reported.
The rescue operation was carried out by members of the fire brigade in Lomazzo, near city Como and their colleagues from Bergamo, who are trained in animal rescues.
In one clip a firefighter can be seen reaching into the tunnel and pulling out one of the dogs, which he then cradles and pets.
A firefighter reaches into the tunnel to get out the trapped dog, which got stuck after chasing a fox
Of course firefighters are no strangers to rescuing dogs who have got themselves stuck in unusual places.
Last July U.S. firefighters smashed through a concrete wall to rescue a dog that had been trapped there for five days.
Footage shared by the Cincinnati Fire Department in Ohio showed terrier mix Gertie being carried to safety by firefighter Jenny Adkins after a neighbour heard her cries from behind a wall.
Gertie had fallen down a gap behind the garage, and was wedged between it and another wall.