Basset hound, on raccoon’s trail, gets rescued from storm drain
Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and rescuing hounds lovers! Well, this is a different kind of rescue story that came across the wires yesterday. 
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A basset hound who dashed into a storm drainage pipe after a wild animal in South Hills was rescued by an unlikely hero.
Daily Mail photographer Tom Hindman missed the shot of the hound that had been stuck in the drainage pipe coming out because he was the one who rescued the dog.
The hound followed a large raccoon into the open end of a storm drainage pipe on a hillside off Druid Place in South Hills. Neighbors called for help after hearing the dog howling through a drainage grate.
A woman, who asked to remain anonymous, heard the dog from her home near the drainage grate Tuesday afternoon and called 911 for help.
Shortly after her call, Charleston firefighters from the South Hills Station and city Humane Officer Clarence Carte arrived at the scene.
Firefighters lifted the heavy steel grate from the drainage well and looked inside the pipe with a flashlight, spotting the dog and its prey about 15 feet from the drain’s opening.
“The raccoon is still in the pipe only about a foot away from the dog,” Carte said while the hot afternoon sun beat down on the small group that gathered to try to help the dog.
The woman who called emergency crews went inside her home and returned with a small plastic bowl of tuna. It was placed at the pipe’s opening. The smell wasn’t enough to lure the dog.
The dog had been barking while in the pipe but the barks turned to yelps of pain, and scuffling in the pipe could be heard from the street. The neighbors who had come out to help, many of whom had been whistling and calling for the unidentified dog, cringed.
Carte, armed with a flashlight, blanket, and a poled leash, decided it was time to act. He lay the blanket on the grass and leaned into the hole that the pipe opened to and called for the dog.
Carte looked to a newspaper photographer who had arrived to shoot the rescue and asked if he wanted to give it a try.
Hindman, who has worked for the paper for 17 years, put down his camera and lay on the blanket. He took the flashlight and eased his head and shoulders into the hole.
“Come on, girl! Come on, girl!” Hindman, a native of Mingo County, called into the hole. “Tree her! Tree her, girl! You got her! Tree her!”
After a few seconds, a brown and white head emerged. The tired hound crawled out of the pipe and Carte, ready with the poled leash, lassoed the dog. The raccoon scurried away through the other end of the pipe, Carte said.
The hound was taken to the shelter until her owners could be located. Neighbors said they had never seen the dog before and didn’t believe it belonged to any of the residents of Druid Place.
Contact writer Ashley B. Craig at ashley.cr…@dailymail.com or 304-348-4850.
End of article!
Well – that was one lucky hound. I sure hope that she was up to date on her Rabies shots. Just one more reason for a strong fence in your back yard.
More keeping hounds out of storm drains later…..Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma
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