In a town still reeling from the devastation and destruction caused by Wednesday’s tornado, one bright spot emerged Saturday morning.
A dog that had been sucked out of its owner’s home in Monson, Massachusetts by the tornado and trapped in the rubble of a nearby home for three days, was rescued.
“It emerged, literally, all fur and four legs, in the arms of a Massachusetts State Police trooper who crawled under the rubble of a collapsed house after neighbors heard a puppy’s call for help,” said Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio.
Trooper Brian Pearl was on patrol about 8 a.m., when he turned into the hardest hit area of the town and a woman started waving him down.
“She said, ‘We found a dog hiding or trapped under a collapsed roof,'” Pearl said. “You could hear the dog barking, but you couldn’t see it. He was way, way, way under there.”
“He climbed into and under the rubble on his hands and knees toward the sounds,” Procopio said. “There, under the remnants of a home that had collapsed Wednesday evening, he saw the dog.
After three unsuccessful attempts, he snagged the dog and pulled it to him and then out of the rubble to safety. It was a puppy, a dark brown Sharpei-Chow mix.
Remarkably, as word of the rescue spread, a couple from a nearby street came to tell Pearl they had been searching for their Sharpei-Chow mix, Shadow, who they said had been sucked out of their home by the tornado.
“Audrey Carabetta told Trooper Pearl that she and her family searched everywhere for Shadow and posted pictures online, all with negative results. The family thought he had died,” Procopio said.
The puppy was a gift to the Carabetta’s daughter, Adrianna, 7, who had been battling cancer for the last two years. Adrianna is now in remission.
Shadow was hungry and tired, but not hurt. “It was very gratifying,” Pearl said.
The Carabetta’s and Shadow are now staying with family.
What a nice ending!!!!!!! This little dog had the will to survive and now will be ok!!!!!!