Soldiers help mother rescue pups from floodwaters

A dog whose newborn pups were caught beneath a metal container amid rising waters was able to save most of the litter with the help of Israeli soldiers, in an intermittently heartwarming and heartbreaking story caught on video this week.

Soldiers at a base near Nahal Oz, in the Gaza periphery, had adopted the stray dog in recent months, providing her with food and water. Several days ago, the canine birthed 12 puppies in a nook under a large metal container at the base, just as a winter storm hit the country.

Then rainwater began to pool under the container.

“The rains had created large puddles which blocked the entrance to the container and filled the cavity in which the dogs and their mother were nestled,” said Eyal Gatenyou of Israel’s “Let the Animals Live” association, which helps animals in distress.

In a video of the incident, soldiers gather around the flooded niche as the mother whines in distress. One can be heard encouraging her to retrieve the puppies. “Get them out,” he says as he points inside. “Out, out.” The dog then bounds under the container.

The mother eventually pulled each of the puppies out, as the soldiers helped her with the rescued newborns.

“She got all of them out,” said Gatenyou. Five of the litter did not survive the ordeal, but the other seven were promptly taken to safety.

The soldiers then called Getanyou’s group to ask for assistance. “The soldiers put them in a tent with blankets, where they slept all night,” he recounted.

The mother and the puppies, four males and three females, were taken to a “Let the Animals Live” shelter in Kfar Ruth in central Israel, where they are being kept in a warm room.

“We are now treating her and her puppies, who are still nursing,” the group said on its Facebook page.