A sweet little pug named Cookie got a last-minute lifesaving rescue thanks to her quick-thinking owner and a team of local veterinary students.
The dramatic pug rescue unfolded over a matter of hours in the Gainesville, Florida, area after the beloved senior dog took a terrifying tumble.
Fortunately, rescuers were quick to arrive at the scene. Still, nobody was prepared for the incredible challenge of finding the lost dog 30 feet underground. She had fallen into an unstable sinkhole.
Like the folks who saved an elderly shepherd dog after he was swept away in a flood, the team had to get very creative to perform the pug rescue safely and return her to her worried owner.
They ended up on the scene with machines, equipment, and a full team of rescuers. Everybody had to work together to solve the problem and save little Cookie from certain death in the sinkhole.
Scroll through below to learn what the rescuers found inside the sinkhole, and see the moment Cookie emerged from her ordeal!
University of Florida College of Medicine recently took to Facebook to post a series of photos that follow the harrowing ordeal of a sweet little pug named Cookie who took a terrifying tumble down a deep, dark hole.
The post, complete with a happy ending, made waves online and in local papers.
Cookie's dramatic journey made it into the Gainesville Sun and captured hearts and minds everywhere!
The University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine saved the day, writing a caption alongside the photos that reads, in part:
UF VETS to the rescue! A pug named Cookie owes her life to teamwork and quick-thinking rescuers.
When "Cookie" fell 30 feet into a sinkhole last night, her owner immediately contacted Gilchrist County Fire Rescue.
Chief James Campbell assembled a team and in turn contacted UF VETS' animal technical rescue team, consisting of John Haven, Brandi Phillips and Jenny Groover.
The whole drama began when Cookie's owner Patricia Langston took the dog out for a walk on the household's farm property.
Woman and dog were walking towards the nearby barn when a giant sinkhole opened up in the ground and the dog tumbled in.
The ground was saturated with water from earlier rainstorms, with more bad weather on the way, and the ground simply weakened and collapsed in.
The hole was 30 feet deep, and Cookie, a 10-year-old senior dog, tumbled out of sight immediately.
However, when fire rescue showed up, they were able to hear Cookie "snorting" below, a sound that some pugs make in lieu of barking. The pup was alive.
The fire rescue team knew it was a job for the Veterinary Emergency Treatment Service from the veterinary college, which had rescued a horse from a similar situation a year earlier.
The team set up an A-frame over the sinkhole and dug all the way down the distressed-but-unharmed dog.
They had to work quickly, because sinkholes are unstable and can easily collapse, suffocating the poor pooch.
There were also more dangerous thunderstorms on the way, and they had to get Cookie out before the hole filled with water.
A fourth-year medical student named Jenny Groover went in on a harness to retrieve the pug.
Fellow rescuer John Haven told the Gainesville Sun that the dog didn't even need a harness to get out again.
Cookie was so relieved to see Groover she "just kind of scrambled into her lap," and then, "she kissed that girl [Groover] 150 times."
The lucky pug was dirty, but totally unharmed, which is pretty amazing when you consider the steep drop, pictured above. The smooth-sided hole is remarkably narrow and deep.
Here's Groover and Cookie posing for the cameras after the daring rescue. Cookie, as you can see, is caught mid-kiss.
Cookie's owners, Patricia Langston and her partner Laurel Johanson, are relieved to have the senior dog back.
They plan to keep Cookie and her canine siblings far away from that part of the property until they can get the sinkhole safely filled.
If you're relieved to see this lovely pug back on solid ground, SHARE her incredible story and spread the word about her brave rescuers!
