'Forest' Rescued After Shelter Director Literally Goes Out On A Limb

BRANFORD, CT — Rescuers from Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter will do whatever it takes. Case in point: Today, a dog was found hanging on to a tree branch in the Supply Pond. Yes. In the pond. What do animal shelter workers — and citizens standing by —do?

One, shelter director Laura Burban, shimmies out onto a log hovering inches above the cold waters of the pond.

The dog had been seen for hours running in and out of traffic near the pond, had shelter staff "Out there trying to keep vehicles safe from swerving and also trying to catch this little guy," the Facebook post describing the rescue reads.

"We were able to shimmy our way out onto the log and eventually safely capture this little guy before he fell into the water, and were able to hand them off to another team member to get him to safety," according to Burban. "While all of this seems like it happened very quickly, this entire process was over the course of hours. Even us just safely getting out onto the log to be able to capture this pup took over an hour."

The dog has no chip and has no collar. Now, shelter staff are looking for its owner, and hoping it was not abandoned.

"Every single day in animal control is different. Sometimes people ask us, 'What is it that you do to protect the public?" staff asked rhetorically. "This is a really good example of one of those times."

"Affectionately" named Forest both because he "ran as fast as he could to escape us and because he had been hiding out in the forest for quite some time."

If you know who this dog belongs to, please call 203-315-4125.