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15-year-old deaf dog rescued from Texas storm drain

By Kelli Dugan, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Dog paw and human hand are doing handshake Stock photo of a dog's paw. A beloved family pet in Arlington, Texas, was rescued Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, from a storm drain. (POPROTSKIY ALEXEY/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

By Kelli Dugan, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

ARLINGTON, Texas — Zoey had quite the weekend.

The 15-year-old lab mix gave owners Andrea and Brennan Tankersley a scare when she vanished Thursday night after slipping through a gate in the family of five’s Arlington, Texas, backyard.

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By Saturday night, a two-day search ended joyously after a more than 10-hour rescue mission executed by the Arlington Fire Department, complete with a skateboard assist from a kindergarten neighbor and an ambulance ride for Zoey.

“People were hearing animal sounds, but they were hearing them all over the neighborhood,” Andrea Tankersley told WFAA, confirming the beloved family pet had become trapped inside a storm drain.

Complicating things further, Zoey is deaf.

“So we’re calling out to her, calling out to her, of course knowing it’s not any good, but you can’t help it,” Brennan Tankersley told the TV station.

According to KXAS-TV, crews dug up the residential street and cut into a pipe to get to Zoey, but the process was slow.

“Hours later they were jackhammering, sawing and then eventually crawling down a tunnel to rescue her,” Brennan Tankersley told the news outlet.

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Of course, Zoey’s rescue hinged on physically removing the scared pup from the storm drain, and a kindergarten neighbor named Hunter was eager to do his part, so when an Arlington firefighter suggested using a skateboard to retrieve the dog, he obliged.

Arlington police officer Kristi Weil told WFAA that rescuers plan to sign the skateboard used in the extraction and present it to Hunter later this week.

“(Hunter) was just so enthusiastic about helping us. It was just so heartwarming,” Weil said.

The rescue was only the first leg of Zoey’s adventure, though.

She was placed on a stretcher and transported to a veterinarian by ambulance, KXAS-TV reported.

“The doctors said they’ve never had a dog delivered by ambulance before, so these guys really went above and beyond,” Andrea Tankersley told the TV station.

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