Firefighters rescue dog from icy pond

February 25, 2009 5:43 PM | No Comments
Chicago firefighters rescued an owner and his dog this afternoon after the dog fell through the ice at a pond on the North Side, fire officials said.

Members of the department's scuba team responded at about 4:30 p.m. to the 2500 block of North Stockton Drive, said Eve Rodriguez, a fire spokeswoman.

A man had been walking his dog along the North Pond in Lincoln Park when the dog apparently ran on the ice, fell through and then swam to an un-iced area near in the middle of the pond, said Cmdr. Ron Dorneker of the scuba team.

The owner waded into the pond thigh-deep, but couldn't reach the dog, Dorneker said. When firefighters arrived, they pulled the man out, then swam out to the area where the dog was struggling in the water and used a pole with a lasso on the end to pull the roughly 50-pound dog -- named Stella -- toward shore, he said.

The equipment, he said, was specially designed for rescuing dogs from the water and was donated to the department by the Anti-Cruelty Society.

Stella, whom Dorneker believes was a mix of some sort, didn't appear to suffer lasting effects of the ordeal and was reunited with the owner after being toweled off.

--Andrew L. Wang