Tulare County Fire Department rescues dog in canal

A pitbull terrier is now safely kenneled at the Porterville Animal Shelter after being rescued Saturday afternoon from the Friant Kern Canal, where it crosses Linda Vista Avenue, by two fire fighters from the Tulare County Fire Department.

According to Shannon Corbit, a volunteer at Porterville Animal Control, who works as the shelter’s adoption coordinator, she took the call that afternoon of a dog in need of rescue. The call came from a jogger running along the canal who first spotted the dog. The pitbull terrier’s legs had become wedged behind a ladder leading out of the canal. As the area the dog was trapped in was under county jurisdiction, Corbit said, she was advised to call the Tulare County Fire Department by County Animal Control, which does not rescue animals from canals.

“They do a really good job,” Corbit said of the county fire department.

The two fire fighters who responded to the scene, Daniel Ortiz and Jose Magania, from Strathmore Station #16, were able to secure the dog, which was “distressed” according to Corbit, who had watched the rescue. The fire fighters freed the dog’s legs, and then pulled her to safety. Corbit said the dog was over-heated and exhausted, and that the remnants of a rope were found around her neck, but she was otherwise unharmed by the incident.

“She’s doing good,” Corbit said, of the dog’s current condition. “We’re hoping that the owners come for her.”

However, Corbit continued, if no one claims her, there is a group in San Francisco that Corbit feels will be able to find her a good home.

“She’s a very sweet dog,” Corbit said, although she has some concerns about the dog’s owners, because of the nature of the rope, a black and orange tarp rope, which was tied around her neck.

The jogger, who did not identify himself by name, stayed on-hand to see that the dog was rescued safely.