Stuck dog rescued from drain pipe

ST. PARIS, Ohio (WDTN ) - A sad story came to a happy end Wednesday evening when a dog trapped inside a drain pipe was rescued.

Zeke, a German Shepherd mix, was trapped in the 15-inch pipe off Old Troy Pike in St. Paris for five days. His owner, Sarah Story, said Zeke, a therapy dog, went into the drain pipe on her father's land last Friday while chasing an animal.

The whole family spent the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend trying to rescue the dog. Neighbors helped out with backhoes and shovels. They dug several holes and cut up several sections of the drainage pipe to find Zeke, but after four long days and sleepless nights, they called off the search on Monday night.

Richard Story said he had almost given Zeke up for dead until Reynoldsburg business owner Steve Maller contacted him, saying he had a camera that could go 1300 feet into the pipe. It was the last ditch effort and the Story family jumped on it. Maller arrived Wednesday afternoon with a crew of two men and a robotic camera specially designed to travel through sewer lines. His company contracts with cities throughout Ohio for sewer line inspections.

Four hours later, their effort paid off. Four-hundred-fifty feet deep inside the pipe, workers finally spotted what they were looking for: a set of blinking eyes. Zeke was found sitting in the drainage ditch about 1,000 feet away from the opening he had crawled into. He still had his lead on and appeared calm.

Family members, neighbors, and work crews broke out in applause when they saw Zeke on the camera monitors. Crews then dug a hole in the ground, broke open the pipe and lured Zeke out of the 15-inch opening.

Despite five days of being stuck in a small hole with no food and little water, the dog appeared to be in good spirits, running around wagging his tail.

"I would never have thought we'd see the dog alive. I think you need to give them the credit," said Rick Story, referring to Maller and his two partners.

Maller said this was his gift to the Story family. When he heard about the dog being stuck, he canceled his appointments and drove to Champaign County to help. Maller said he had just lost his own dog a few years ago and was not going to give up on this search until they had found Zeke.

Animal rescue groups said there is no way a dog could have survived underground without food and water for more than a week. Time was running out for Zeke, but technology, determination, hope, and love, saved man's best friend.