KINGSTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- It took about a dozen people to pull a deer from a well in Luzerne County this weekend, and the whole ordeal was captured on video.
Underground deer rescues are not something you learn in firefighter training, but video captured by Tracey Morgan-Chopack shows members of the Trucksville Fire Department getting it done.
Milton Hefft made the call Saturday while he was walking on his land in Kingston Township.
"I walked by the well, and I heard some splashing noises, and I'm thinking, 'What is happening there?' To be honest with you, the first thing I thought was that someone fell in the well. I looked down in there, and there was a deer down in there," Hefft said.
Trucksville firefighters called in help from the Pennsylvania Game Commission and John Ackourey of the Luzerne County Animal Response Team. He went down in the well.
"The water was freezing cold. I'm still cold from it a little bit, to be honest with you. My hand is a little cold. Brought some ropes. The number one priority first was to calm her down," Ackourey said.
Ackourey says they couldn't use sedatives since it's bow hunting season and it could have put the doe at risk after the rescue. And because of the time of year, it's likely the doe is pregnant. Taking their time and using a lasso, the team of 12 pulled the doe to safety.
"For the amount of calls that we go on with not so good outcomes, this was a great outcome," said Chief Steve Mathers, Trucksville Volunteer Fire Department.
"For that brief moment, we were all together to help out for one mission: to help the deer, and that's what we did," said Ackourey.
It's a lesson you couldn't possibly pick up in training.