Rescuers in Michigan carried a dog to safety after it fell through a frozen lake on Wednesday, local media reported.
White Lake Fire Authority Chief Gregory Holman told WZZM the department does not rescue all animals that fall through the water, but try to help domesticated pets.
“When looking at an ice rescue situation involving animals – if it’s a deer, we’re probably not going to endanger our staff and put them on the ice,” Holman said. “For a family pet like a dog we’ll do our best to rescue them.”
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Holman said the dog fell into the icy water after wandering nearly 90 metres out onto the ice.
The Muskegon County Animal Control attempted to rescue the animal before calling firefighters for assistance.
“The dog was still barking, but was still in the hole that was created from him falling through,” Holman said. “Over time, he started to become more lethargic just due to the conditions in the water and hypothermia setting in.”
“We knew that we had to get out there.”
A member of the department walked out onto the ice, picked the dog up out of the water.
“As you get closer you get into a more crawling position to hopefully not disrupt any more of the ice – almost a slide-in method into the hole where you can gain control of the animal,” Holman described.
The cold and wet Golden Retriever was carried to shore and treated by Animal Control before being reunited with its owners.
-With files from The Associated Press