Toffee, a deaf 7-week-old puppy, was rescued 31 hours after falling down a 5-inch-wide hole in Alabama, local news outlets reported early Saturday morning. The rescue team got the Australian Shepherd mix out of a 50-foot hole in the backyard of her foster family at almost 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, according to WHNT-TV. "I still can't believe she's really out and she's right here and I'm holding her," Karen Smith, the puppy's foster owner, said after the rescue. Volunteers included first responders, engineers, handymen and the Paint Rock Fire Department. "I'm an animal lover," Chief Finis Johnson told WHNT on Friday. "It's good to know we can come out to help folks." Johnson had seen a news report on Toffee, who had been down the hole since 5 p.m. on Thursday. Rescuers tried a variety of tools to get the puppy out safely, including copper pipes and fishing nets to which they zip-tied treats. However, a puppy can't get into a collapsed net and an open net couldn't fit into the hole, one volunteer told WHNT on Friday. "It just kills me that she's down there … and I can't get to her," Smith told a reporter for WHNT News. The news station posted photos from the site of the rescue effort, including one of the footage from the camera Huntsville Fire & Rescue had sent down affixed to a plumbing pipe. The puppy was active on the camera, and they were able to see that she had the food and water they lowered to her as well. "My baby foster puppy Toffee [fell] in a very deep hole yesterday," the pet's foster family wrote on a Facebook page for Lost and Found Pets in Huntsville, Alabama and asked for any ideas to rescue her Friday morning. "We can see her when she is walking around and whining. The Fire Department and Cave rescue came out yesterday but it got dark." WAFF-TV had live stream coverage of the rescue effort on Friday and Toffee was in the news studio, along with a representative from A New Leash on Life Saturday morning. The partially blind and deaf puppy was doing well and had eaten treats and sardines. "It's so nice to know we have such a caring community over this little dog," the representative from A New Leash on Life said. The organization found Toffee and the rest of her litter and found foster families for them.<doc-sep>HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- After 30 hours of effort, volunteers were able to rescue a 7-week-old deaf puppy that fell down a 50-foot (15-meter) crevice behind a house in Alabama.Volunteers erupted in cheers as the pup - named Toffee - was pulled out of the narrow hole around midnight Saturday with the help of a snare and some food.Toffee fell into the inches-wide space around 5 p.m. Thursday. Firefighters, cave rescue crews and plumbers joined the rescue effort, lowering nets, snares and food to try to retrieve Toffee. "Y'all this is a miracle," Karen Smith, the puppy's foster mother, told reporters. Video footage showed the white puppy wagging her tail as Smith cuddled her.Huntsville television stations drew thousands of followers as they live-streamed the recovery efforts.----------<doc-sep>The pup was rescued early Saturday morning. HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - Cheers of joy erupted early Saturday morning when a puppy's 31-hour-long ordeal came to a happy end. Rescue efforts for a deaf 7-week-old puppy named Toffee were successful after she fell into a 50-foot hole outside her foster family's home in south Huntsville around 5 p.m. Thursday while playing with the family. Her foster mother was not aware of the hole and watched in shock as Toffee fell in. After multiple failed attempts, rescue crews were finally able to lure her into a net by using sardines. She emerged from the hole in perfect health. Toffee survived the 50-foot fall into the rocky crevice unharmed. Since then, volunteers, rescue crews and fire officials tried numerous rigs and nets to try to get out safely. They came close Thursday afternoon when they got two of her paws into a net but could not get her entire body in the rig. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that Toffee is deaf and that her eyes are not completely open due to her young age. Rescue crews kept her fed and had eyes on her the entire time through a camera lowered into the hole. Toffee is a 7-week-old Australian Shepherd mix. She and her siblings were rescued in Blount Co., Ala., and brought to the foster family through the rescue group A New Leash on Life. The same rescue group coordinated the rescue. Toffee's plight has attracted national media attention as people across the nation offered well wishes, prayers and even offered to come to Huntsville to help with the rescue.<doc-sep>
(Reuters) - Toffee has been saved. At a little past midnight on Saturday, with the help of some sardines and a snare, volunteers lifted Toffee, a seven-week-old deaf puppy that briefly caught the nation’s attention, out of a deep hole in northern Alabama, ending a saga that began more than 30 hours earlier, local media reported. “I still can’t believe she’s really out,” Karen Smith, the dog’s foster owner, told a local news outlet. “This is a miracle.” Toffee fell into the hole in the backyard of her foster family’s home at about 5 p.m. local time on Thursday, setting off a vigorous efforts by the fire department, cave rescue crews and volunteers to save her. Throughout the rescue effort, volunteers tried lowering a person down into the 50-foot (15 m) crevice before realizing the opening was only 5 inches (13 cm) wide. They also tried reaching Toffee with rope, duffle bags and a crate, all to no avail, WHNT News 19 reported on its website. During the ordeal, Toffee remained awake, eating and drinking water, according to reports from local CBS affiliate. The longer Toffee was in the hole, the more fans she got on social media, where people from across the United States rooted for the white puppy. Slideshow ( 3 images ) “Toffee is saved!!!!! So happy they got her out of that hole! Now I can sleep tonight,” said a Twitter user who goes by the name of Jamie. A live feed from the scene late on Friday night showed spotlights shining on more than a dozen people who huddled around the hole discussing how to rescue Toffee. Finally, at a little after midnight on Saturday, workers lowered sardines and a snare down to Toffee and were able to hoist her up to the ground where she was meant by a loud cheer and some tears of joy. Smith clenched Toffee after she was rescued, burying her head into her fur, footage showed. “I still can’t believe it. I don’t want to put her down, she’s probably going to sleep in the bed with me tonight,” Smith said. “And we are going to cover that hole up.” (This story fixes typo in second paragraph.)