When an experienced animal rescuer calls something the GOAT (greatest of all time), we know we just have to see it. Thankfully for us, the whole experience was caught on tape!
One day, Andy Gallo, an emergency animal technician with the Arizona Humane Society, received a call that an 8-month-old billy goat had fallen into a 250-foot long irrigation pipe.
Andy and two fellow AHS workers, Gracie Watts and Savana Wilcox, spent a few hours investigating before realizing they needed a special snake camera to locate the goat. They could hear the poor little thing crying in the darkness underground, but he was far out of reach. So the next day, they returned with reinforcements!
The team started out by attaching the snake camera to 100 feet of PVC pipe, which they inserted into the irrigation system. They brought along shovels and a sledgehammer, determined to save the goat before it rained again and the pipe filled with water. Then they started digging through dirt, concrete, and piping between two residential properties, searching blindly for the spot where the goat was lodged.
“We could not lay eyes on the goat at all, we never saw him before we started chipping away,” Gracie said. “We just kind of went by faith as to where we thought he was.”
Luck was on their side that day! The team happened to be digging just 5 feet from where the goat was lodged. Dramatic video footage shows them carefully pulling the little guy out of the ground.
Minutes later, the skies opened up, and it started to pour. If the rescue had taken any longer, the animal likely wouldn’t have made it.
“We were never going to quit, but you get to that point where you start telling yourself that this isn’t going to happen,” Andy said. “He would’ve drown down there if we left him.”
Andy said he’s been working as an emergency animal technician for 16 years, but this rescue was literally the GOAT! Thank goodness this rescue team had the skills, determination, and good fortune needed to give this story a happy ending.
Watch the dramatic rescue in the video below, and don’t forget to share this incredible moment with your friends.
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