Puppies saved from sewer near razed Pa. plant

NEW CASTLE, Pa. - A demolition crew and some firefighters have rescued at least five puppies from a storm sewer at a burned out western Pennsylvania plant.

Workers with Duane Hambrick Co. said a pit bull had been hanging around the site of the former Shenango China plant which burned June 28. On Wednesday, the dog began approaching the workers and they figured out why after hearing her pups yelping from inside a storm sewer.

(Scroll down to watch a report from CBS News affiliate WKBN-TV in Youngstown, Ohio)

"I saw that she had puppies in the building," John Lawrence, a member of Hambrick's crew told the New Castle News. "I brought in food. She was starving and the puppies were taking everything she had."

Once they learned the puppies were stuck, however, Hambrick's demolition crew called firefighters who spent hours dropping hamburgers and other food into the sewer, hoping to coax the puppies to openings where they could be rescued. They even shooed the pups toward one manhole by spraying a hose into another.

It wasn't immediately clear how many puppies actually had to be rescued, though firefighter Bob Eakin told The Associated Press on Friday the number was at least five. There were 10 puppies at the plant in all, and they've all reportedly been adopted, along with their mother, by various people in the community or the firefighters who rescued them.

"They've been fielding calls all morning at the station from people trying to get one," Eakin told the AP.

Eakin gave one of the puppies to his 11-year-old son, Patrick. They've named the dog "Chance" because he got a second chance after being rescued.

"I just love him," Patrick told CBS News affiliate WKBN-TV in nearby Youngstown, Ohio. "I can't stop."

The gift comes at a good time. Patrick's border collie died last Halloween, WKBN-TV reports.

"We were getting them out, one way or the other we were getting them out," Eakin told WPXI-TV. "We're happy, you know, mission accomplished."