Not just kittens anymore, Firefighters rescue Farmer's Ass

A donkey sits trapped in an abandoned well before being rescued Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, at the Bryan Nelson residence about 10 miles northeast of Underwood, Minn. Firefighters dismantled the well to free the donkey which had some bruises and lost some fur where it rubbed against the concrete walls of the well, but was otherwise fine. (AP Photo/The Daily Journal, Jeffrey Hage)




This is the greatest story ever! Reminds me of an old tale, of a donkey trapped in a well. The farmer didn't know what to do. He finally decided there was no way to get the donkey out, so he thought it best to bury the animal alive. As the farmer tossed shovel fulls of dirt on the donkey's back, the donkey just shook the dirt off its back. After a couple hours of attempting to bury the ass, the farmer was shocked to see the animal walk out of the nearly filled in well. -- In this real life version, they used pulley's and a harness to save the farmer's ass.
bryan

Firefighters save donkey trapped in well

Fri Sep 14, 9:36 PM ET
UNDERWOOD, Minn. - A donkey is happily eating grass again after falling down a dry, abandoned well and being freed in an intensive rescue effort. It appeared that the animal wandered away from its farm and onto some boards covering the well, which broke, said Bruce Huseth, fire chief in this western Minnesota town.

Firefighters quickly realized that the animal, which belongs to farmer Warren Gundberg, couldn't just be pulled from the abandoned well on Bryan Nelson's land.

So they started pulling away earth with a tractor and dismantling the well block by block Thursday. Once one wall had been taken apart, firefighters put a harness around the donkey and guided it out with a rope.

"Whatever it takes," Nelson said as he watched his well come down. "I love animals, and I'm just glad it's OK."

Gundberg admonished the animal after the rescue: "I bet you'll think twice about doing that again. If you would have stayed home you wouldn't be in this trouble."

Huseth said that he has rescued cows that have fallen through ice, but that the donkey was a first.