Owner Launches 100-Hour Rescue Mission To Save Dog Trapped Under Boulder

Today in heartwarming animal news, we bring you the story of Jessie, a four-year-old Jack Russell terrier, whose owner refused to give up on her after she became trapped between two boulders. The incredible story sounds a bit like the Disney remake of 127 Hours; Just replace James Franco with an adorable pup and allow everyone to escape with limbs intact.

Australian Steve Porter was rabbit hunting on Mount Beckworth with Jessie, when the dog fell 12-feet while chasing a feral cat and became trapped, the Melbourne Herald Sun reports. Porter and his son rounded up a few friends and tried to break away the rocks using jacks and crowbars. The boulders wouldn’t budge, so they called in State Emergency Services. At first they could only move the smallest boulder, but then a hydraulic ram was brought in from Melbourne to move the 60,000 pound rock.

The men worked in the cold and sometimes as late as 1 a.m. on the operation, which took 100 hours and cost $2,000. Jessie could only move her head and front paw and stayed alive by eating bits of liver lowered down to her on a wire. Finally, around 9 p.m. on Friday night, the pup was pulled from the crevice using a dog-catching hoop. She jumped right into her owner’s lap.

Porter says that when things looked utterly hopeless he considered putting Jessie down, but ultimately decided he had to keep trying to save her. He explained:

“We felt we owed it to her. The easiest thing to say was the dog would die or we could say let’s give her a good hard go. And we did. We rallied together and we said ‘We can do this’. Where there’s hope there is life.”

Jessie was a bit dehydrated, but is otherwise remarkably healthy. As Porter says, her rescue is a “miracle,” but we’re guessing there are a lot of pet owners who would go this far to save their furry best friend.

Steve Porter Moves Heaven And Lots Of Earth To Rescue Dog Jessie [Melbourne Herald Sun]