[nagdu] UK: Guide Dog saved from icy death

[Ginger Kutsch]

Guide Dog saved from icy death
10:00am Monday 6th December 2010
 
A GUIDE dog trapped in an icy lake at Stanton Fitzwarren was
saved from freezing to death in a daring rescue by firefighters
on Saturday. 
 
The black labrador fell through thin ice at Stanton Park and was
stuck perilously for at least 20 minutes with only its head and
front paws out of the water. 
 
After fire crews arrived, a specially-trained firefighter slid
along the ice on his stomach, grabbed the helpless animal and was
pulled back to dry land with it in his arms. 
 
The owner, a partially-sighted Swindon woman, who did not want to
be named, is said to be delighted with the rescue but
'distressed' about the near-tragedy. 
 
Watch manager Kevin Bridgman, who led the rescue, said: "The
owner was over the moon, she couldn't praise us enough, she
couldn't believe what we did. 
 
"She was so impressed with what we did but she was very
distressed about what happened. 
 
"It was a great outcome from our point of view, I think the whole
crowd was over the moon, right from control down to us, that it
was a successful outcome. 
 
"The message to dog owners is to keep your dog on a lead at all
times near icy water." 
 
The incident happened as temperatures rose slightly above
freezing on Saturday, causing ice on the man-made lake to thaw. 
 
The owner called Stratton St Margaret fire station at 11.35am and
a pumping appliance with six firefighters was immediately
dispatched. 
 
When the officers arrived, just 12 minutes later, they saw the
dog stuck about 10 metres from the lakeside, with its front paws
on the ice and its body under the water. 
 
Watch manager Bridgman said: "The dog was very calm, it was not
flapping, just looking towards us as much as to say 'Come and get
me out'. 
 
"The owner was there, obviously a bit distressed." 
 
The firefighters started preparing for the rescue and an off-road
vehicle, equipped for water and animal rescue, arrived with five
more officers. 
 
Firefighter Steve Owen, who is specially trained in water and
animal rescue, went out to save the animal as a small crowd
gathered. 
 
Wearing a drysuit and attached to the bank with lines, he slid
out flat on his stomach, helped the dog back onto the ice and was
then pulled back in with the animal in his arms. 
 
The dog, which was cold but uninjured, was wrapped in a thermal
blanket and taken in the off-road vehicle back to the owner's
car. 
Source:
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/8720832.Guide_Dog_saved_f
rom_icy_death/
 



Ginger Bennett Kutsch
Morristown, NJ


"To think that one small dog could stand for so much in the
life of a human being, not only in his usual role of companion
but as his eyes" Dorothy Harrison Eustis, The Saturday Evening
Post, November 5, 1927