AURORA | It was a lucky day for Bear on Tuesday when the stray German shepherd fell through the ice into a pond at Aurora Sports Park.
The icy plunge wasn’t lucky, but it was fortunate a passerby saw the dog fall in and called 911.
Aurora firefighters were able to get the dog out of the water before it drowned.
The rescue wasn’t fast because firefighters were unable to get equipment through a locked gate. The dog kept paddling for about 15-20 minutes until a park ranger could be located to let firefighters in, according to animal care officials.
Firefighters were clearly anxious about the length of time the dog was in the water, marveling on radio scanners that the dog kept paddling until they could get equipment in to get on the ice and pull the dog to safety.
Firefighters turned the soaking dog over to animal control officials, who took Bear to a staff veterinarian to be treated for hypothermia.
Shelter officials found an embedded chip in Bear’s neck, but the chip hadn’t been registered, a frequent problem, according to shelter spokeswoman Cheryl Conway.
Bear wasn’t abandoned. The dog had run off from home on Sunday, and his owner has been looking for him ever since. His owner just happened to call the shelter Wednesday hoping he’d been found and was told Bear was there, and had narrowly survived his fall through the ice.
So Bear’s owner, Lisa came to get him.
“She was beyond ecstatic to find him,” Conway said. She said it was clear the feeling was mutual. Conway tried to get a picture of the happy reunion but Bear was so ecstatic to see his owner all of the pictures were mostly just a blur of tail wagging and prancing. “Bear was SO happy.”
Great work to all those involved! I’m ecstatic that Bear is safe and sound w/ his family.
Good story, bad headline. A dog’s “mom” is the female canine who littered it. A dog’s female human is its owner.