A 5-week-old pit bull puppy was pulled to safety by Missouri firefighters after the animal fell about 20 feet down into a PVC pipe, KTVI reported.

Members of the Ferguson Fire Department rescued Poncho on Wednesday after the puppy became wedged in the pipe. The animal had been a gift for a boy one day earlier.

“They let the puppy in the backyard to play and apparently the grass has been cut and, in the process, the top of the drain pipe had been cut off so it was an exposed 8-inch PVC pipe,” firefighter Chad Forgue told KTVI. “The puppy walked over and went headfirst down.”

Forgue said his crew tried to lasso the puppy with a rope.

“We could see its tail and one back leg at the time and every now and then when the rope would hit him and he moved a little bit, so it kind of reassured us that he was still with us,” Forgue said. “We just weren’t sure if he was nose down in some water or if he was even at the bottom of the pipe. We didn’t want to knock him down any further.”

It took some time, but the firefighters were able to free Poncho.

“Just seeing the look on (the boy’s) face and that his puppy that he just brought home, the whole family was excited they return to them," Forgue told KTVI. "Sometimes we don’t get to see positives but this time we just so happen to.”

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