When Animal Aid Unlimited in Uidapur, India, received a call about a dog screaming loudly and running around in the rubble of a house, volunteers immediately went to the site. There they found a mother who had recently given birth and was desperately trying to dig up her puppies, buried under rocks and earth. The dog, trembling, was digging the soil with her paws, and trying to pull large rocks away with her teeth. When she saw the people, she wagged her tail and whimpered loudly as if asking for help.
Volunteers at the center tried to hear any sounds that would indicate that the pups were alive. The rescuers had great doubts; they did not believe that anyone was still breathing under the piles of rocks.
But the dog would not calm down. And even though they tried to lead her away, she still returned to the rubble and tried to dig up her cubs. She seemed to feel them and hear their piteous squeaks.
Rescue workers lowered a camera probe into a thin crevice next to the former wall, which confirmed: there were several puppies, and they were alive! The work accelerated.
The rescuers handled the rubble, throwing aside stones and bricks, and the mother rushed to help them every now and then — pointing to the place where her babies were lying. They could not delay; the animals could suffocate at any moment.
In just a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity, they managed to get the first puppy out of the ground. It was covered in mud, but it was breathing and even whimpering pitifully. They took him aside to his mother, hoping the dog would take care of him and stop bothering the rescuers. But the young mother was so worried about the other pups that she simply could not be away from them.
They could not take the family to the shelter — there was simply no room left. But the staff fed the dog and gave her and the puppies a safe place to sleep. After the puppies grow up, they will try to find a new home, and their mother will be spayed.
