Oct. 8--Hazleton firefighters have made a lot of rescues over the years, but Monday they freed a dog from a water jug return cage outside a grocery store.
It was just before 11 a.m. when Luzerne County 911 fielded a call from a woman reporting a dog stuck inside the five-gallon water bottle return outside Giant Food Stores, 70 S. Locust St.
How the dog got there and how long she was inside is unknown.
Firefighters used bolt cutters to cut open the lock on the metal receptacle and were treated to wet kisses from the gray and white female canine they freed within a minute of arriving.
"She was pretty friendly," said Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Jones.
Bystanders gave the dog food, biscuits and water before she was taken to the Hazleton Animal Shelter.
Workers from Giant looked at their video surveillance to see how the dog got inside after it appeared she was tied there on a leash, but upon reviewing two hours worth of footage they came up empty handed, Jones said.
"When I arrived there were three fire trucks there, (Hazleton police) officers and the dog was out and on the leash," Carolyn Sheppard, a shelter worker said. She believed that if the owner was in one of the stores in the area, they would have noticed the activity and claimed the pet.
The canine was sitting with a police officer, "calm but nervous," she said. Three hours later, the dog's owner still didn't step forward.
The pooch appears to be in good health and wasn't aggressive, just timid and scared.
A veterinarian will evaluate her, ensure she's spayed and place a three-day advertisement in the newspaper to find her owner, Sheppard said.
After that, if no one steps forward, she'll be placed for adoption.
"The weirdest things happen," Sheppard said. Offering some reasons as to why the dog was found among the water cooler jugs, Sheppard said, the dog could have been abandoned, or someone could have stolen her and placed her there.
Contact the writer: achristman@standardspeaker .com; 570-501-3584
___ (c)2019 the Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, Pa.)
Visit the Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, Pa.) at standardspeaker.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
