Dachshunds are natural hunters, reproduced long and slim to chase after fearlessly into badger holes.
So when the long-haired dachshund Mocha, while playing in the front backyard of her Billings Heights home Wednesday afternoon, saw a bunny retreat into a close-by drain pipeline she did what she was born to do, she dove in after it.
That ended up being the simple part. More than 100 feet into the pipeline and about 4 feet underground, she got stuck.
Mocha’s owner, June Brewer, said she’s a trained dog.
“But, when she gets on the scent of a wild animal, she kind of loses her mind,” she said.
She initially attempted to coax Mocha out with food, which generally works. But, not this time.
“We could tell pretty quickly there was no way to get her out but to dig,” she said.
People are likewise checking out…
And, here’s where it pays to understand someone who understands someone.
A member of the family understood a man from Benjamin Franklin Plumbing in Billings who had a drain snake with an electronic camera on it. He hurried right over. Someone else understood somebody who worked for the city’s water department who likewise hurried to the scene with an electronic camera snake. With cams searching from both ends of the drain pipeline, they rapidly found Mocha who was wet and muddy and shaking.
Once they situated Mocha’s underground area — in the middle of a next-door neighbor’s nicely landscaped backyard — somebody discussed they understood somebody from Grizzly Peak Excavation who hurried over with a backhoe.
They dug to the plastic pipeline and cut through it and out popped Mocha, a little dazed, and rabbitless, however safe at last.
From the time Mocha vanished to the time she saw daytime once again had to do with 5 hours.
“Those workers were so compassionate with her, a dog they didn’t even know,” said Brewer. “Mocha was so glad to be out, she was just kissing everybody she could and was really wagging her tail.”
The area has actually had a rough couple of years. Many of the locals loafing to share in Mocha’s rescue are older folks who had actually been pushed into seclusion throughout the pandemic.
“It had been awhile since we’d all seen each other,” Brewer said. “Mocha brought us all together again.”
Rescuers complimentary Mocha the long-haired dachshund from where she was stuck in an underground drain pipeline in the Billings Heights.
