FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WGN) – An Indiana police officer is being hailed a hero after he rescued two dogs from an icy pond in Fort Wayne over the weekend.
According to the Fort Wayne Police Department, Officer Trent Hullinger, responding to a 911 call, discovered two black Labrador dogs stuck in an icy pond at the Ivan Lebamoff Reservoir Park on Sunday.
Hullinger found the dogs hanging onto the side of the pond, seemingly unable to pull themselves out.
“Officer Hullinger located two black Labs that had fallen through the ice in the northeast part of the reservoir,” Fort Wayne PD wrote on YouTube. “Both dogs appeared to be unable to get themselves out of the water as their heads and front paws were clinging to the concrete edging surrounding the water.”
As Hullinger approached, he can be heard on the video trying to coax the dogs to come to him to no avail. “Hey guys. You guys OK? Come, boys. You coming? Come on, buddies. You OK?”
As Hullinger reached the dogs, he said, “Come on. You need help?”
Hullinger then hoisted each of them out of the cold water, grabbing one by its front paws and pulling it out of the pond and onto the grass before doing the same for the second dog.
The police department said the outside temperature was 34 degrees and the rain had begun to turn to wet snow during the rescue.
After getting the dogs out of the water, the officer can then be heard saying, “Good job. Come on, guys. Come on. Let’s go.” The dogs bounded alongside him as all three ran to a waiting squad car.
Watch the entire water rescue in the video player below:
The dogs were turned over to Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control “with hopes of reuniting the dogs with their owner or finding them a new home,” police said.
