A family is thanking firefighters for their quick work, after their dog was found trapped in ice on the North Saskatchewan River late Monday morning.
Fire crews were called to the river’s edge in northeast Edmonton late Monday, after a Great Pyrenees puppy was found stuck in the ice.
It took firefighters some time to get to the dog, named Rosco, and start work to get him out of the frigid river.
“It’s very steep cliffs over there, almost, it was very hard for the crews to get there,” Capt. Kelly O’Neill with Edmonton Fire Rescue said.
“They had to chop him out of the ice, actually, with axes, that’s how long he’d been in there.”
Rosco’s owner, Dave Baird, called the rescue a miracle – it brought an end to hours of worry.
“[The firefighters] were amazing, they brought the crews out and managed to get safely out on the ice,” Baird said.
Baird said Rosco had spent the night away from home, he suspected the dog may have spent the night in the river.
“We suspected something wasn’t right when Rosco didn’t come home,” Baird said.
“His lower extremities were frozen into the river; we suspect he was probably in the water 24 hours.”
It appeared to be a repeat of an incident a year ago, when two of the family’s dogs: Buddy and Maddy, were stolen.
However, Baird’s 13-year-old daughter Mikaela found Rosco and called her father Monday morning.
After he was rescued, Rosco was rushed to the Emergency Vet Clinic.
“The vet said that when he came he had a block of ice on his tail the size of a gas can,” Baird said.
Baird said despite that, Rosco’s core temperature was good, and he credits the dog’s heavy coat for keeping him warm.
“We cursed that fur all the time, because it’s a full time job keeping the burrs picked out of it, but I think today it saved his life,” Baird said.
There’s a chance Rosco could lose his tail, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.
With files from Susan Amerongen
