LOS ANGELES – A horse in Los Angeles found herself out of luck after she was trapped in a sinkhole in the backyard of a home for hours.
Thanks to the swift action of firefighters, “Lucky” was rescued and brought back to safety on Wednesday.
Lucky and her owner reportedly began to sink into the ground during a ride. The rider escaped, but unfortunately, the 1,200-pound Paso Fino became trapped.
Crews with the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) were called to a home on West Foothill Boulevard, where they discovered the mare stuck up to her neck in a sinkhole in the backyard made of extremely soft soil.
Captain Erik Scott from the LAFD said that over 50 firefighters were present to assist in extracting the animal, as heard in the footage he posted to social media.
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“We had helicopters overhead in case we were going to perform a hoist, but it was deemed in the best interest of the horse to try and get her out on her own,” he said.
The rescue workers used yellow straps to safely free the horse after being stuck for nearly three hours.
In a subsequent post, Scott uploaded a video showing Lucky being rescued from the mud with the aid of machinery and wrote “Lucky is free!” as the caption.
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Firefighters could not definitively establish the reason behind the sinkhole and the horse’s entrapment, though there have been heavy rainstorms in the area lately. FOX 11 in Los Angeles reported that authorities believe an outdated septic system may be to blame.