Dog Rescued From Water Treatment Plant's Aeration Pond
PUEBLO, Colo. (CBS4) -- Firefighters were called Monday morning to the Metro Waste Water Treatment Plant where a dog was stuck in a sewage pond.
"She was exhausted," said Pueblo West Fire Department Division Chief Brad Davidson.
Workers opened a gate and entered the area to conduct work at a different pond.
"They heard a dog yelping, barking, whining," Davidson said, and found her stranded in a cement culvert in an aeration pond.
The workers estimated the dog had been in the pond up to 90 minutes before they heard her calls for help.
It isn't known how the dog entered the aeration pond, but Davidson said the aeration process endangered her life. If she had ventured farther out toward the middle of the pond, "she would not have been able to float," he said.
The poop-covered pooch was lifted from the culvert by firefighters and hosed down.
Firefighters handed her over to Animal Services personnel who brought her to the Pikes Peak Humane Society's facility. Spokesperson Gretchen Pressley said the dog has been given decontamination baths and vaccines. She has no wounds.
She also, Pressley said, was wearing tags, and workers are trying to contact her own.
The dog's owner faces no citations or charges for a rescue, Pressley said. The dog did not present a safety concern or nuisance to the public.
Firefighters had to decontaminate their equipment after the rescue, too.