Winona’s very own version of the “Paw Patrol” sprang into action after a two-year-old puppy “yelped for help” after being caught in a storm drain.
However, instead a team of super hero pups, it was animal control officer Tim Pearson, citizen Arlin Pearson, Tony Palmertree, and Wayne Beavers, from the street department, who swept in to save the day.
Pearson said he received the call after 8 a.m. reporting that a puppy was heard yelping in agony after being stuck. Person said Arlin Pearson had been taking care of the puppy after she wandered to his Church Street home a few months ago.
“He said he went out there to look for her and he could hear her yelping,” Pearson said.
Pearson said Arlin called him to Church Street but when we arrived, he realized it would take a lot more to free the puppy, so he reached out to Tony Palmertree and Wayne Beavers with the street department.
“I put my hand down in the drain and she licked it, she knew she was fine then,” Pearson said. “It took us about five to ten minutes to get her out.”
“I called the street department because they deal with the drains, I didn’t want to mess anything up,” Pearson said. He said Palmertree and Beavers were able to bust up the concrete to remove two of the bars to free the puppy.
Once the poles were removed, Pearson said they were able to get her body and free her. He said it was a great beginning to his Friday.
“It felt good to be able to help her,” he said. “I knew we had to get her out because of the rain that was coming in, if she was left in there, she would have drowned.”
He said he and Arlin both believe that the puppy, that doesn’t have a name, chased a chipmunk or squirrel down the drain. Pearson said the drain isn’t very big, and it’s a wonder the puppy even made it in the drain.
Pearson said he had no idea that his heroic act would garner him this much attention for news outlets.
“I didn’t know Arlin sent it to the news stations until they started calling me,” he said.
He said he isn’t one for putting the spotlight on himself and doesn’t like it.
