Brave Firefighters Dive Into Storm Drain To Save Puppies – Only They’re Not Puppies At All

Firefighters have difficult jobs. And that’s an understatement.

Not only must they risk their lives to save others, they must also get involved in some sticky situations to save other lives … even if those lives aren’t human.

For instance, the Colorado Springs Fire Department was recently tasked with rescuing a litter of puppies that somehow got stuck in a storm drain.

At first, nobody thought it’d be a tough rescue. After all, there was no fire; just a storm drain and some helpless creatures that needed assistance. No problem, right?

Well, not exactly.

Each of the tiny babies in question was deep in the drain and they needed to be handled with extreme care, because there was no knowing what condition they might be in.

Furthermore, the space was cramped and awkward, so the firefighters had to be very careful getting in without harming the pups.

But in the end, they were able to extricate eight little babies from the dank, dangerous storm drain (imagine if it had rained before the firefighters got to the babies!).

After getting a closer look at the pups in question, everyone agreed they must be little Labradors. Then they rushed the babes to the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region for treatment.

That’s where the story takes a very strange turn.

The vets didn’t find anything wrong with the tiny tykes – thankfully – but they did drop a pretty big bombshell on the rescuers:

These weren’t dogs at all!

Colorado Springs Fire Captain Brian Vaughn explained:

“They took them [to the shelter], and actually one of the vets in that location said, ‘No, these aren’t Labradors… these are foxes.’”

Unbelievable! The babies were actually red foxes and in truth, that’s not a huge surprise. This location is close to the Rocky Mountains, which is of course home to a large fox population.

Added Colorado Parks and Wildlife District manager Travis Sauder,

“This time of year, there are a lot of animals… starting to have their young.

[Mothers] have [their young] in small dens that are places that we can encounter when we’re recreating in the outdoors like we like to do.“

Sauder said the mama fox had probably given birth to her litter inside the storm drain, then figured she’d just leave them there because the shallow hole made for an ideal den.

They thought the mother fox might return to the storm drain but she never did, so the little foxes were brought to the Animal Clinic of Woodland Park, where they’ll be cared for until they can be released back into the wild.

They can’t be adopted but they can be loved for a while!

Sure, firefighters rescue pets all the time. But this is probably the first time any of them rescued foxes! 😀

Source: Honest to Paws