A three-year-old dog is recovering after falling through the ice and into the freezing water on Cape Breton’s Eskasoni First Nation.
T-Bone ventured out onto the ice Monday morning after following his owner’s two grandsons to their bus stop.
“My grandson called me and said, ‘T-Bone went through the ice!’ And I said, ‘What can I do? I’m sitting here at home. I can’t do anything,’” recalls Belinda Stevens.
Eskasoni RCMP Const. Jason Bernard says he too felt helpless as he stood on the shore, watching the Black Labrador splash around in the freezing cold water.
Thankfully, he and a friend found a canoe that happened to be sitting between two trailers on the shoreline.
With temperatures double-digits below zero, they knew they didn’t have much time to rescue T-Bone and bring him to safety.
“A friend of mine came, Eric Stevens, and we both got hold of a canoe just along the shoreline and we brought the canoe over, managed to bust through the ice and get to the dog,” says Bernard.
The dramatic rescue - which was caught on camera - was over in a matter of minutes, although Bernard says it felt like forever. He and his friend used a hook provided by the Eskasoni Fire Department to safely tow T-Bone to shore. He was then driven home by firefighters.
“He was in bad shape,” says Stevens. “He was wet and shivering and freezing.”
A few hours later, Stevens says T-Bone was jumping and playing like nothing had happened. But things could have ended much differently if Bernard hadn’t been in the right place at the right time.
“Just saving the dog was the priority,” he says. “From, I guess, training and experience we knew what to do, just to be safe. I’m glad there was a happy ending.”
“I’m very grateful,” says Stevens.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald
