Photo of pup from Bakersfield stuck in tire rim goes viral

A pit bull named Junior from Bakersfield is winning hearts across the Web this week after a photograph of the pup being rescued from a tire rim went viral.

The puppy apparently had been playing with a Buick Regal tire rim Friday, when its head got stuck in the middle, said Brandon Hill, a Kern County Fire Department spokesman.

The dog’s owner, Meagan Beeler, rushed to the nearest Kern County fire station, hoping firefighters would be able to free her dog, Hill said.

Fire personnel photographed the rescue as they used cooking oil to slowly and methodically free the pup from the rim.

They later posted photographs of its head stuck in the tire rim on the Fire Department’s Facebook page, which immediately went viral with more than 193,000 views and nearly 850 shares.

Animal rescues are not uncommon for Kern County firefighters, who often have to save dogs from pipes and drains.

But this rescue was “by far the most unique one,” Hill said.

Still, the rescue has touched the hearts of hundreds of people on Facebook, as well as Beeler, who wrote a message on the department’s page, thanking the firefighters.

She wrote that Junior was “doing great.”

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