DERBY, Vt. (WCAX) – Who let the dog out? People all over the internet have been wondering what happened to a dog in the Northeast Kingdom unfortunate enough to get a bucket stuck on its head.
Animal lovers in the Northeast Kingdom were racing against time to rescue a dog.
“I was around riding the four-wheeler one day — because I go riding around quite a bit out there in them fields — I happen to see this dog with something on his head,” said Paul Patenaude of Derby, who was in his backyard when he spotted the dog in question.
When he tried to get close, it ran away. Patenaude, who is paralyzed from the waist down, needed help pursuing the dog and turned to social media. “I wanted the dog to get caught and taken care of. That pail had to come off his head, you know. Poor dog, at that point you can already see he was quite skinny,” he said.
Derby Animal Control Officer Renee Falconer and her team searched Patenaude’s land for eight straight days. Falconer estimates the dog — now known as Bucky — had been living in the woods for about a month. “Knowing the container was on his head and not knowing what his ability to eat or drink was what really drove me — was the fact that he could die with this container on his head. I did not want to come out here on a recovery mission. I wanted to come out here on a rescue mission,” Falconer said. She says it turns out Bucky was able to get some nourishment by drinking and eating out of the top of the bucket.
Rob Russell with 2A Tact Air Ops Drone Services came all the way from New Hampshire to help with the search for four days. Eventually, the team was able to use a trap to catch him.
“There was just something about seeing that dog with a bucket on his head. I don’t know, I just felt like, if there was a way I could help, I was willing to do it. I have done some tough ones. This is my most memorable to date,” Russell said.
Bucky is now being nursed back to health and once he is ready, his supporters will be trying to find him a new home.