Dog Trapped In Well For 27 Days Still Has His Zest For Life

A dog miraculously survived 27 days in an abandoned well on a farm before being found. Bruno, a chocolate Labrador was pulled from the well weighing half his weight, but after a week in intensive care, the dog is on the mend.

Bruno’s ordeal began on September 17, 2016 when he was playing with his family’s other dogs on the family farm near Hitchcock, Saskatchewan while his dad, John Billesberger worked in his fields. But when he did not return with the other dogs a few hours later, the Billesberger family immediately got into their trucks, bikes and quads to search the farm for him.

Note: graphic images below may be disturbing to some readers.

They kept looking every day for weeks, but there was no sign of Bruno. They thought someone might have taken their 7-year-old dog and hoped that he was safe in someone else’s home. But they continued to search nearby roads and ditches. Then, on October 14, while her husband, John, was out with their other two dogs, one of the dogs ventured onto the neighbor’s land and refused to move.

John went to look and found an abandoned well and down at the bottom lay Bruno in the mud. He lifted his head but couldn’t bark.

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Prairie Animal Health Centre

“I just couldn’t believe it because we had looked everywhere,” John told CBC News. “This was just unbelievable that we’d found him.”

John called his son for help to get Bruno out of the 10 foot deep well. His son lowered himself into the well and pulled Bruno out. They rushed him to Prairie Animal Health Centre. Bruno was severely dehydrated, suffering hypothermia and was caked with mud and wounds from his ordeal. He likely had survived as long as he did because of the rainwater and snow that fell down the hole.

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Prairie Animal Health Centre

“For him to have survived that amount of time is actually kind of a miracle. I would have expected that they would have found him dead,” Dr. Carol Ross of the Prairie Animal Health Centre in Estevan told the National Post.

Bruno was moved to the ICU at University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine where he is in stable condition. It appears that Bruno’s kidneys are okay as well and he may not have any long-term ill effects from his ordeal. His strong will to live has impressed both his doctors and his family.

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Western College of Veterinary Medicine

“This dog, Bruno, had a real zest for life and will to live,” John said. “Hopefully I can pick him up before too long [and bring him home].”

But for now, Bruno is still in a fragile state and will be looked after staff at WCVM until he is stronger.

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