A 120-pound dog trapped in an icy pond outside Chicago was narrowly rescued by local firefighters before it could give up or suffer from hypothermia.
“Unfortunately, for a moment I thought I was going to just watch this dog die in front of my eyes,” said Roseanne, the dog’s owner, who declined to give her last name. CBS News – Told Chicago.
On Friday morning, a 7-year-old Great Pyrenees named Belle fell into a partially frozen pond and had been treading water for about 30 minutes. Roseanne said she was nearly exhausted until her Long Grove firefighters rushed in and rescued her.
According to the pet’s owner, Belle was changing her clothes in the backyard in the morning when she suddenly heard a frantic barking sound.
“I heard a really high-pitched scream. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s not good.’ So I went looking for her to see what was going on and I looked out her back window and saw her swimming in the middle of the pond,” Roseanne told the news station. told.
“I was shocked. I started crying,” she added. “I started yelling at her, ‘Bell!’ Bell! Keep your feet up on the ice because we’ll get you out of there!”
Roseanne tried to go into the pond herself to save her beloved pup, but the sandy bottom made it difficult to get close to it, so she had a tough time.
“It’s all like quicksand in there. You can’t walk in it,” she told CBS.
After the failed attempt, she called 911 and firefighters from the Long Grove Fire Department arrived wearing special equipment and suits.
“When they pulled up, they could see the dog on and through the ice, and it was pretty tired. In fact, the dog had its paws out on the ledge waiting for help,” Long Grove Fire Protection said. District Lt. Christine Mullen told the program.
Winter temperatures and icy water forced firefighters to work quickly. Roxanne estimates that Belle has been in the water for about 30 minutes already.
“When the water gets to about 50 degrees, dogs can only tolerate it for about 20 to 30 minutes, after which all their fur gets wet. Hypothermia is detected fairly early,” Mullen said.
Bell was safely brought ashore and had no health problems despite the frigid plunge.
Roseanne and her big pup visited the Long Grove Fire Department on Monday to thank the heroes.
“If it wasn’t for the firefighters and their skill and compassion, she would have been gone,” Roseanne said.
