Dog Trapped In Drain Pipe Rescued In Burlington County

MEDFORD, NJ — Many residents and organizations in South Jersey came to the rescue of an eight-year-old dog trapped in a drain pipe over the weekend.

The series of events leading to the dog's rescue began when the dog, named Dylan, was nowhere to be found late last week, Shellinda Fisher-Hardie, founder and president of Jericho's Wish Animal Rescue, told Patch.

Thus, flyers were hung and calls and texts were fielded from those who thought they saw or heard Dylan, she said. A text she received Saturday revealed Dylan's location but also set into motion a daunting task, she said.

"He is in one of the drain pipes on [Quail Ridge Road]," Fisher-Hardie said, recalling the text. "We heard him barking at 11 o'clock this morning."

Rather than leave the dog there, a number of organizations — the public works departments and emergency medical technicians of Medford Township; the New Jersey State Police, the Taunton Fire Company, Southern New Jersey Tracking and Trapping Recovery Group, Atlantic City

Electric and residents of Medford — stepped in and spent hours Saturday night into Sunday morning successfully rescuing Dylan from being trapped 150 feet down a drain pipe, according to Fisher-Hardie.

"They were amazing," she said. "I've never seen that many people in the heat. And mind you this was at one in the morning ... to see them all work together like that was amazing to see."

Upon his successful rescue, the New Jersey State Police rushed him to Mount Laurel Hospital, providing him with oxygen during the car ride, Fisher-Hardie said.

The hospital's veterinary team is taking good care of Dylan, who had some medical concerns before becoming trapped, she said. The list of medical procedures the team has performed include bringing down the dog's 104-degree fever, administering pain medications and an IV, cleaning his wounds, performing X-rays and taking bloodwork, and also diagnosing and treating a bloodstream infection.

Dylan may also need surgery, according to Fisher-Hardie.

Despite the extensive list of medical procedures, Dylan's " doing amazingly well, for everything that he's going through," she said. "It's amazing how well he's doing. They said one more day [in the drain pipe] he would have died."

As word of Dylan's story spread on Facebook another "amazing" show of community support happened, said Fisher-Hardie.

At about noon on Sunday, the amount raised for Dylan through online donations was roughly $1,170. By the end of the day, the amount was just shy of $3,100, she said.

"Donations are coming in like crazy for him," she said. "Everybody's worried about this dog they've never met before. That's a beautiful thing, especially now in this time, where
people have so much going on."

After Dylan gets discharged from the animal hospital, someone has expressed interest in fostering and ultimately adopting him, according to Fisher-Hardie.

You can track Dylan's progress and learn more about his rescue on this Facebook page, she said.

Those interested in making financial donations can do so via PayPal or through Venmo, she said.

Got a news tip? Story idea? Send me an email with the details at janel.miller@patch.com.