ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — Cats may have nine lives, but a lucky pup survived after becoming trapped in a precarious place in St. Lucie County this week.
Video posted Wednesday on Facebook by Lenny Cruz, the store manager at St. Lucie Battery & Tire, showed a dog that somehow became stuck in the bumper cover of a car.
The post said that a woman was driving at night when the dog ran into the road and hit her vehicle.
"The dog came in front of the car, hit here, snapped it open. It snapped back and the dog was actually trapped in there," Cruz explained to WPTV's Cassandra Garcia.
Cruz said that after 12 hours the woman carefully drove to St. Lucie Battery & Tire, where she met up with a St. Lucie Animal Care and Control worker.
“Everybody responded so quickly it was like, dog trapped, bring the car in. It was like it was rehearsed before,” Cruz said.
Video showed employees at the business working carefully to remove the shaking pup, a Schnauzer named Barbas who is just over a year old.
He was hit by a car Monday night. St. Lucie County Animal Safety says the car pulled over, but the dog was nowhere to be found. The next morning the driver called for help when they heard a bark come from inside their car.
Cruz said the dog did not have any external injuries and was also walking normally.
"We just don't fix cars, we rescue dogs," a worker on the video could be heard saying.
In fact, this is the fifth animal that St. Lucie Battery & Tire has saved.
“First time I’ve ever seen a dog trapped in there. You find cats, you find rodents when it gets cold outside they kind of tuck away to get warm, but a dog, never at all,” said Cruz.
Owner Juan Rangel told WPTV that Barbas got out Monday night. They thought they were never going to see him again when a St. Lucie County Animal Safety officer reached out to him.
“I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I’m like, what do you mean he’s stuck in a bumper?” said Rangel.
Rangel says Barbas has been his happy and playful self ever since. The family is grateful he made it out alive.
“It’s crazy and then just seeing the videos. I mean, it’s unbelievable. I mean, he really is a miracle,” said Rangel.
