One very lucky dog is recovering at a shelter after a group of cavers said their excursion into a western Virginia cave over the weekend turned into a rescue mission when they found her 40 to 50 feet (12 to 15 metres) underground.
Dave Jackson and Jesse Rochette of Colorado-based educational cave simulator company CaveSim on Sunday headed to Narrows in Giles County to explore Giant Caverns with a local couple, Jackson told Associated Press.
The first member of their party started down into the funnel-shaped cave and spotted something unusual — a dog.
"He said, 'Whoa! There's a dog down here!'" Rochette said.
"And I asked if it was alive and he said 'Yes!'"
A self-described "dog-guy," Rochette rappelled down next with a piece of salami.
"She instantly came over and sucked up the salami and she loved that," Rochette said. The dog was shivering, so they wrapped her up in space blankets, foam pads and whatever else they could find, including the hood from an old jacket they found in the cave, he said. Next they got her to drink water by first getting her to lick water off his fingers, then lowering his hand until she was drinking from the bowl.
Jackson said he had taken rescue training classes and participated in rescues before, but never a rescue involving an animal.
"We all carry a little rescue gear with us," Jackson said, and they pooled what they had. The cavers improvised a dog harness from a tarp and webbing and rigged up a system to haul out the dog strapped to Rochette, he said.
The whole rescue took about three hours, Rochette said.
"As the two of us cleared the edge of the pit and made it to fresh air, she instantly perked up," he said.
"She lifted her head up and started sniffing the air."
The property owner said he didn't recognise the dog, so Rochette said they took her to a nearby veterinary hospital and she was then taken to the Giles County Animal Shelter, where she was recuperating well and getting lots of treats when he visited her on Monday.
While he had never rescued an animal from a cave, Rochette said other cavers he has spoken to have told him of other rescues. The cave they were in Sunday was littered with animal skulls and bones, Rochette said.
"It felt nice that the cave didn't get to keep another one," he said.
Initially, they dubbed her "Cave Dog" but then settled on SPAR-C, an acronym for "small party assisted rescue" with a C added for canine, Rochette said.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the shelter called the dog "a living miracle," saying they didn't know what to expect when they first heard of her plight.
"Yesterday, we received a call about a dog who had fallen into a cave in Narrows," the shelter said. "To be honest, we didn't know what the next hours or even minutes would look like."
But the dog the shelter is calling Sparsy had no broken bones. She couldn't use her back legs well without assistance, but they expected her to be up and moving within days with medication, rest and good nutrition.
On Wednesday, the shelter posted an update saying she was up and moving and her medical expenses have been covered. The shelter was still seeking her owner, but said that if she continued healing at this pace, she would be ready for a new home soon.
Rochette is pictured with Sparsy.
Firefighters on the NSW Central Coast have rescued an unlucky possum stuck in a barbed wire fence.
Fire and Rescue NSW's Wyong station posted the photos on its Facebook page.
"Arrived on the scene to find the possum's hind leg embedded on the barbed wire, giving us the 'help me' eyes," the post read.
Firefighters cut through the wire to detach the poor possum after giving it a "motivational pep talk", and took it to the vet.
"Mr Possum is now considering a career in tree climbing instead of fences," the post read.
"Another unique day in the life of 505 Wyong: saving lives, one possum at a time!"
An echidna was given a ride to safety after being found struggling 70m from the shore of Lake Eildon at Bonnie Doon, about 190km north-east of Melbourne.
Brendan Paterson thought the floundering echidna was a turtle in the water before he got close enough.
"I know that echidnas can swim, but this was an echidna that could not swim, and was definitely struggling," Paterson said.
Paterson said he slowly approached the animal with his board and it managed to climb on.
"As it climbed on it took a big breath of air," he said.
Paterson then escorted the echidna to the shore on his wake board.
A dog stuck in a rock crevice for two days has been pulled out alive and well after a large rescue operation on the New South Wales Central Coast.
The little staffy named Jax fell into this narrow crevice between rocks where a rescuer is wedged while on a walk with his owner at the Wyong Creek property two days ago.
His worried owner went to social media to try and find help including jackhammers to break the rock where the pup was trapped.
It sparked a large rescue operation with dozens of community members lending a hand to help out.
After two days, this is the moment the exhausted pup emerged from the hole.
After being given the all-clear by RSPCA vets, all the pup wanted was a bath.
His owners hope their next walk will be less eventful.
Firefighters rescued a kangaroo from its certain death after it became stuck inside a fast-moving stormwater drain.
The frozen kangaroo was spotted by a woman on her morning walk.
The Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) rescued 15 green tree frogs that were discovered by a member of the public trapped inside a handrail in Lennox Head in New South Wales.
The frogs were brought to Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital in varying conditions and placed in reptile fluids to absorb some much-needed nutrients.
The team then X-rayed, weighed, swabbed for chytrid (a form of fungus), photographed for frog ID and placed the amphibians back into reptile fluids to rest.
The swabs were sent away to a lab and the frogs were placed into care to continue feeding to gain the strength needed for release.