Chinese School - Firefighters save donkey trapped in well

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WORLD / America

Firefighters save donkey trapped in well

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-16 14:11

UNDERWOOD, Minn. - A donkey is happily eating grass again after falling
down a dry, abandoned well and being freed in an intensive rescue effort.

A donkey sits trapped in an abandoned well before being rescued Thursday,
Sept. 13, 2007, at the Bryan Nelson residence about 10 miles northeast of
Underwood, Minn. Firefighters dismantled the well to free the donkey
which had some bruises and lost some fur where it rubbed against the
concrete walls of the well, but was otherwise fine. [AP]

It appeared that the animal wandered away from its farm and onto some
boards covering the well, which broke, said Bruce Huseth, fire chief in
this western Minnesota town.

Firefighters quickly realized that the animal, which belongs to farmer
Warren Gundberg, couldn't just be pulled from the abandoned well on Bryan
Nelson's land.

So they started pulling away earth with a tractor and dismantling the
well block by block Thursday. Once one wall had been taken apart,
firefighters put a harness around the donkey and guided it out with a
rope.

"Whatever it takes," Nelson said as he watched his well come down. "I
love animals, and I'm just glad it's OK."

Gundberg admonished the animal after the rescue: "I bet you'll think
twice about doing that again. If you would have stayed home you wouldn't
be in this trouble."

Huseth said that he has rescued cows that have fallen through ice, but
that the donkey was a first.

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