New York State Trooper Crawls Through Tight Pipe to Rescue Dog

A dog has been rescued by a New York State Trooper after getting trapped in a pipe for days in the Southern Tier.

New York State Police say NYS Trooper Jimmy Rasaphone and his partner, Trooper Ana Reynas, responded to a report of a 13-year-old golden retriever named Lilah, stuck in a culvert pipe in the Broome County town of Conklin. Lilah had been missing for days, according to owner Rudy Fuehrer.

Fuehrer told the Times Union that Lilah first went missing Friday, and worried she had wandered off to die because of her age. He searched for her Saturday and Sunday while walking with his other dogs, when he heard Lilah yipping. He found Lilah inside the pipe and couldn’t get her to come out, even with pieces of cheese and peanut-butter coated dog biscuits; he first tried to contact the local dog warden, but when he couldn’t get hold of them, he called 9-1-1 for an “animal emergency.”

Rasaphone and Arnas, stationed out of Binghamton, responded to the scene quickly. Rasaphone determined he was small enough to squeeze into the pipe and help.

“He had no qualms,” Fuehrer told the Albany newspaper. “He went right in... That floored me. That was astounding.”

Rasaphone crawled about 15 feet inside the pipe, put Lilah’s collar on her with a rope attached to it, and was able to get her out within minutes. Now Lilah’s back at home, safe and sound.

”Troopers, thank you for going above and beyond and showing compassion to help get this pup back home to her owner,” New York State Police said.

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