Arizona Humane Society technicians rescue goat from irrigation pipe
Aug 19, 2021, 2:00 PM | Updated: 3:58 pm
PHOENIX — A goat in the West Valley has some new friends — and a new lease on life — after being rescued from a 250-foot irrigation pipe following a two-day rescue mission.
A homeowner near 43rd Avenue and Thomas Road told the Arizona Humane Society on Tuesday she heard the cries of a neighbor’s goat coming from underground.
AHS technicians arrived and found that the 8-month-old goat had fallen into the pipe but were unaware of the animal’s exact location.
The search was paused after about two hours and resumed Wednesday when the crew returned with a snake camera intended to find the specific location of the goat.
The crew had to attach about 100 feet of PVC pipe to the snake camera in order to find the goat.
The operation didn’t result in a visual on the goat, so the technicians had to use shovels and a sledgehammer to break through concrete and the 12-inch pipe.
“We could not lay eyes on the goat at all, we never saw him before we started chipping away,” AHS technician Gracie Watts said in a press release. “We just kind of went by faith as to where we thought he was.”
The crew dug for three hours at two properties before finally finding the brown and white animal.
A technician was able to extend a hand to the goat and eventually it was brought back above ground, right before heavy rainfall hit the area.
“We were never going to quit, but you get to that point where you start telling yourself that this isn’t going to happen,” AHS technician Andy Gallo said in the release. “He would’ve drowned down there if we left him.”
