Australia Today

Here's a Heartwarming Story of a Miniature Donkey Being Rescued from a Septic Tank

The incident did not affect the small donkey's appetite for carrots.
Gavin Butler
Melbourne, AU
A miniature donkey
Image via Flickr user Amanda, CC licence 2.0

A miniature donkey nearly drowned in shit last night. Firefighters were called to a property in Morayfield, just north of Brisbane at about 6:30pm following reports that the animal had taken a tumble into a septic tank. The ABC reports that he was up to his neck in shit, so a special rescue unit was called in to carry out the delicate task of rescuing the ass.

"We've had some different calls over the years, but this is sort of more unusual than what we get up here," said Scott Marles, from Caboolture fire station. "When we arrived he was fully submerged in the contents of the septic system, so he was up to about his head.”

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First of all, firefighters pumped all the poo out of the tank to make everything a little bit easier and a little less putrid. Then they got the rescue unit on their way.

"The problem was because he was in a very confined space we had to organise some slings to get under him,” Scott explained. Australian Associated Press reports that the team used a large tripod to support slings that were then carefully slipped under the animal's belly. "While it took a while to do, time wise, it wasn't that difficult a rescue once we worked out what we were going to do."

The fact that the donkey was miniature was also a stroke of luck, apparently, as "a full size donkey would have been a bit harder with the lifting.” It’s thought that the tiny beast kicked the cover off of the septic tank and subsequently fell inside. Within minutes of being rescued, however, he was back to happily munching carrots, completely unscathed.

"He was fine,” said Scott. “We were a bit surprised actually, the owners had some carrots there and he sort of came up and started eating carrots. Other than being a bit cold and a bit smelly he still had a full appetite. He didn't seem to have any injuries as a result of the fall."

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