When first responders were called to the scene of a trapped litter of puppies, they had no idea just how involved the mission would be. It's not uncommon for a search and rescue team to recover stray animals before it's too late, and thankfully nobody was hurt in the process. However, once they rescued the puppies, vets made an odd discovery about the litter...
Colorado Springs Fire Department
The Colorado Springs Fire Department had to race against the clock in order to save a litter of puppies from a burning building. The weather wasn't on their side, and neither was the condition the puppies were in. They didn't have a second to lose...
A Rescue Mission Like No Other
The department was used to daily calls regarding fallen trees, small fires, and car accidents. They were also no stranger to rescuing trapped animals. Little did they know that this particular call would be a little more challenging than usual...
A Sudden Call
March doesn't exactly fall during "fire season," like Halloween or Christmas when there are lots of flammable lights strung on houses. March is a low-risk month in Colorado Springs, so the fire rescue team hadn't been expecting a busy day...
Strange Noises In The Sewer
When the team arrived on the scene, they were told there were strange noises coming from a sewer grate. It sounded like baby animals in distress, and the team started to act right away. However, this wouldn't be as easy as rescuing a cat from a tree...
How Far Did They Have To Look?
The storm drain was deeper than expected and very dark, and while the firefighters could hear the tiny yelps, they couldn't see any animals. The grate's openings were small enough to slide a teeny puppy through, but they had no way to climb back out. The rescue team worried they wouldn't be able to find them...
Moment of Truth
Once the team pulled out not one, but a whole litter of puppies, the next thing they had to do was determine if there was still a mother around. They had to see if they still had a "newborn smell," because if the scent of humans mixed with the scent of the babies, the mother might reject them. However, what they determined was much worse than a few abandoned babies...
Who Was Responsible For This?
The person who made the call couldn't imagine who would have dumped a litter of puppies into a drain, or why. The area also wasn't known for stray dogs, so it seemed odd that the problem had occurred in the first place. In that moment, the weather finally turned and it started to storm...
A Race Against The Clock
When it starts to storm, all of the floodwaters rush into the storm drain. If the crew hadn't rescued the puppies in time, they would have certainly drowned. They were so angry at the thought of someone purposefully putting these babies in danger...
Ten In Total
The final headcount was ten puppies in total. They were all clinging to each other for dear life and crying out in fear. They were lucky to be alive, but there was still one final shock the crew was in for...
One Thing Missing
They laid the puppies on a white sheet and began to examine them. They looked like black Labrador puppies, which would be a great find for the local animal rescue center. They all seemed to be healthy, however, they were missing something essential to their survival...
No Mother in Sight
Unfortunately, the firemen could only do so much for the puppies. Without their mother, they had no source of food or protection. Upon a closer look, it was determined that the puppies had just been born and didn't even have their eyesight yet...
Were They Really Labs?
The next step was to take the litter to the vet so they could be properly examined. The visit seemed to go as planned because vets were used to routine physical checkups. However, the doctors said that there was something not right with the puppies...
They Weren't Puppies At All
The black lab puppies the firefighters rescued weren't actually dogs at all. They were baby red foxes! How they'd gotten in the drain, and where their mother was, nobody knew...
Survival Instincts
Foxes are survivors and are mostly active at night. They prefer to live and hunt in relative solitude. Fox expert Travis Sauder explained that spring was mating season...
Losing Their Habitats
Sauder explained that the continuing encroachment of humans into the fox's territory, the mother fox probably thought the storm drain would be a nice hiding place to have her babies. However, with that said, the firemen decided to take action...
Back To The Drain
While the local rescue league was ready to take in the fox cubs, the firefighters thought it would be better to put them back into the sewer and wait for their mother to come back. Though the rescue league didn't exactly agree with that, it might be the cubs' best shot at living a natural life in the wild...
Another Call on the Line
As the baby foxes were reunited with their mother just as the firemen thought they would be, they got another call for an animal in danger. This time, it wasn't a bunch of baby labs mistaken for foxes, but a real lab in need of rescuing...
Icy Waters
This poor dog got loose while chasing a bird and accidentally fell into an icy river. The waters were nowhere near warm in early spring, and the current swept him upstream too quickly for him to get back to shore. His panicked owners called rescuers for backup...
Diving In
Firefighters immediately suited up and dove in to rescue the poor pup. They weren't worried about the cold, they were just worried about getting the dog out of the water safely. When they arrived on the scene, what they saw was heartbreaking...
Negative Prognosis
Once they got the dog out of the water and into the ambulance, they covered him with blankets and started pumping his body with fluids. He shivered uncontrollably, and unfortunately become unresponsive. The team had to act fast...
A Second Chance
Miraculously, the rescue team's CPR efforts worked on the dog and his pulse strengthened. He was returned to his owners, who also had another dog that was missing him, and he was good as new. These sorts of remarkable journeys home are all too common...
Missing Cats
1 in 3 cats will go missing at one point or another in their lives, and most of them will return home within a few days as if nothing ever happened. However, many cats go missing for a long, long time, and it's a nightmare for owners who love them. The story of Bella's return home is one for the books...
No Cat In Sight
When Amanda came home from work one day, she realized that Bella, her usual shadow, wasn't following her around the house like she usually did. After a thorough search, she realized Bella wasn't home. In a panic, she searched outside, but came up empty...
A Harsh Realization
After Amanda searched her house and yard, she didn't know what else to do. The neighborhood was huge, and Bella wasn't an outdoor cat. Where could she have gone? Could she just hope that she'd come home?
Begging Strangers
The next day, Amanda walked her neighborhood in search of Bella. There were a few neighbors out gardening, and she asked them to keep their eyes out for Bella. They unfortunately said they hadn't seen her...
Scouring The Internet
Amanda went home and updated all of her social media settings to public so she could post about her lost cat. She was desperate for any sort of clue as to where she was. Soon, the replies started rolling in...
A Vet's Help
One Facebook friend suggested calling her vet and asking them to track Bella's microchip. That was a genius idea, and in the stress Amanda hadn't even thought to do it. She immediately got on the phone...
Her Location Was Unbelievable
The vet tracked her microchip, and Amanda coulnd't believe the news. She'd tracked Bella! But her location was all the way across town. How had she walked several miles in two days?
On Her Way Home
Amanda immediately got in the car and drove to Bella's tracked location. She was so excited and relieved that her precious cat was safe and sound. She couldn't drive fast enough...
Safe and Sound
When Amanda miraculously found Bella, she swore she'd never let anything like that happen again. She knew it was possible she wouldn't have been so lucky to have found her cat. But stranger things have happened, and cats usually find their way home.