Firefighters, Animal Control Officers Attempt to Rescue Creature From Pipe
Orange County firefighters and animal control officers spent much of Monday trying to free an animal trapped in an underground drainage pipe in Newport Coast.
Judging from the sounds made by the animal, authorities said it could have been a dog, coyote or bobcat.
“We haven’t actually seen him,” said Lt. Kevin Whelan of Orange County Animal Control.
After being alerted to the animal’s cries about 11 a.m. by security guards in a housing development on Peninsula near Ocean Ridge, Whelan said, county officials dug into the ground to uncover the 14-inch pipe in which it was trapped. They bored a hole in the pipe and used hoses to try to force the animal out. When that failed, he said, they called a plumber to locate the trapped animal using a miniature TV camera.
“The animal is [still] crying,” Whelan said late Monday night.
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