Fire Crews Get Creative To Rescue 120-Pound Dog Stuck In Tree

Cats regularly get stuck in trees, but a 120-pound dog?

Wes McGuirk's enormous Great Dane Kora became stranded 20 feet above the ground outside their Louisville, Nebraska, home on Saturday night. He had no idea how Kora managed to get up there, but she really didn't want to come back down.

"I would never thought it was possible. Not a Great Dane," McGuirk told KETV. 

So he called the Plattsmouth Volunteer Fire Department for help. 

As you can imagine, the rescue effort wasn't simply a case of climbing a ladder and lifting the dog off the tree limb. Kora was far too heavy for that.

The initial plan was to install a harness and encourage Kora to follow a friend of McGuirk's down the tree.

"That didn't work too well," officials from the fire department posted on Facebook.

So firefighters put Plan B into action. A long leash was attached to the harness and they delicately lowered Kora to the ground, with crew members holding a tarp to catch the dog when she fell.

"We cushioned the fall pretty well," fire department spokesperson Jon Hardy told WOWT. "And she went in the house like nothing happened." 

The successful effort, which also involved Cass County Sheriff's Office deputies and members of Elmwood Volunteer Fire and Rescue, was captured on camera. The footage is now going viral.

Hardy admitted that first responders initially thought someone was messing with them when they received the call.

"It's one of those that we'll talk about down here for a long time," he said.

McGuirk, meanwhile, said Kora was recovering from her ordeal. He's just hoping it never happens again.

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