Pooch survives gas chamber, finds new home

NUTLEY, N.J. - The dog that survived an Alabama dog pound's gas chamber has found a permanent home in New Jersey.

Daniel, a beagle mix named by animal control workers in Alabama after the biblical figure who survived the lion's den, joined four other rescued dogs last Thursday at the home of Joe Dwyer and his family in Nutley, about 10 miles west of New York City.

"He's in extremely good shape, especially in light of what he went through," Dwyer said Wednesday after returning from a trip to the veterinarian. "His attitude is just incredible."

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Daniel surprised workers at the Animal Control facility in Florence, Ala., on Oct. 3, the day he was supposed to be put down with several other animals in a stainless-steel box roughly the size of a pickup truck bed that was filled with carbon monoxide.

The dog emerged frightened but unscathed, and was eventually flown to New Jersey by Eleventh Hour Rescue, a nonprofit that saves dogs slated for euthanasia.

"Gasses have different weights and perhaps this pet found an air pocket that was able to keep him comfortable and alive until they were able to open up the door," Mountainview Veterinary Hospital's Dr. Elizabeth Boggier told CBS station WCBS.

The organization received more than 100 requests to adopt Daniel, its president said last month. Dwyer said he and his family had two "meet-and-greets" with Daniel before being approved for adoption.

Dwyer said Daniel has become fast friends with the Nutley family's other four pooches - two dachshunds, a beagle mix and a pit bull mix.

"By Thursday evening they were all lying down together," he said. "It was wonderful to see."