This is the moment when quick-thinking builders used their digger to save a dog from drowning in an irrigation channel in Ecuador. Builders near an irrigation channel in Pasaje Canton received a radio alarm that a dog was being dragged down the fast-moving water towards them and was about to drown.
Abel Murillo, a local builder, is seen climbing into the scoop of a digger while a coworker extends it out across the canal and lowers it to just over the water level. As soon as the dog appears, the other builders begin shouting, urgently trying to keep her head above the filthy water and drifting debris.
When Mr. Murillo cries out to the dog, she is dragged in the digger scoop towards him. Before he can yank her up into the scoop, he manages to get a good grip on the loose skin of her back, and the panicked animal bites him. Before the soaking dog gets out, bewildered but unharmed, Mr. Murillo’s colleagues hoist them both back onto dry land.
The builders stated that they held a collection and obtained funds to transport the dog to the veterinarian, where he was treated for inflammation and infection. In a radio appearance, Mr. Murillo described how the builders were alerted to the fact that the dog had been swept away when the water channel was opened.
‘We decided to get down with a bucket to save the dog, as seen in the video,’ he continued. Cristian, another builder in the video, said the dog appeared fatigued as it battled the water. ‘Thank God we were able to catch it, we could give the animal another chance to live,’ their colleague Luis, who is seen climbing atop the pipe in the video, said the three of them were desperate to rescue the puppy.
‘The dog was almost going to let go because the power of the water caused the dog to hit the bucket and desire to fall under it,’ Mr. Murillo continued. ‘Then I grabbed the dog, and it bit me, but it was only a little bite.’ ‘We might yet be able to pull it out.’ It was in poor shape. We collected it and took it to the vet, who performed several injections.