Firefighters Rescue Dog Who Fell 30 Feet Down Abandoned Well In Malibu

MALIBU (CBSLA) — Firefighters worked to rescue a small dog who fell 35-feet down an abandoned well in Malibu Friday afternoon.

The dog, a 7-pound Yorkshire Terrier named Pablo, was said to have fallen into the well around 1 p.m. near the 6700 block of Dume Drive near Point Dume.

Los Angeles County Firefighters along with the Urban Search & Rescue Team were able to successfully retrieve the small dog after about three hours.

"We just hoped that he wouldn't stop barking," Abe Serrano, a firefighter, said. "We wanted to hear him keep barking, because that's the only way we knew he was still alive."

Firefighters had to cut through concrete to make space for a firefighter wearing a protective suit into the well.

"Unfortunately, the puppy was the same color as the mud, so it was kind of hard to hear and to see down there," Jay Sartoris, the firefighter who pulled Pablo from the well, said. "Luckily he made one little bark, and I was able to pinpoint where he was. He was basically just stuck in the mud."

Serrano said Pablo was breathing hard and covered in sticky black mud, but firefighters were able to clean Pablo up and return him to his owners.

The fire department released an update on Twitter, along with pictures of the dog, saying, "@LACOFD Urban Search and Rescue Task Force Firefighters demonstrate once again why they are the finest technical rescue specialists in the world. Los Angeles County Firefighters - Proud Protectors of Life and Property!"

Pablo's owners said they were meeting with contractors to rebuild their home destroyed in the Woolsey fire when the animal ran off.

"What I was mostly amazed with is how incredible the fire department was and how patient they were and how caring they were," one of Pablo's owners said. "They really put in the time and the effort."