On Saturday, three days after a series of twisters shredded buildings from Westfield to Sturbridge, a puppy was rescued from the wreckage of a home collapse in Monson, according to state police.
Trooper Brian Pearl and Shadow, the dog Pearl rescued Saturday from a Monson house collapse.MONSON -- It may very well be one of the few happy stories to emerge from the rubble of Wednesday's tornadoes, which cut a swath of destruction through Hampden County last week.
On Saturday, three days after a series of twisters shredded buildings from Westfield to Sturbridge, a puppy was rescued from the wreckage of a home collapse at 20 Stewart Avenue in Monson, according to David Procopio, a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police.
Trooper Brian Pearl, who's stationed at the Sturbridge barracks, crawled under a pile of splintered wood and broken glass and plucked a 25-pound pooch from the rubble, police said.
Pearl had been patrolling Monson, which was among the region's hardest-hit towns, when a woman flagged him down for help.
"She said, 'We found a dog hiding or trapped under a collapsed roof,' " Pearl said in statement recalling the rescue.
"You could hear the dog barking but you couldn't see it. He was way, way, way under there," the trooper said.
Pearl then grabbed the animal pole he keeps in his cruiser -- a long pole with a loop at the end to capture reluctant dogs and other animals -- and began climbing under the rubble pile on his hands and knees.
Pearl homed in on the dog, but it took four attempts before he successfully slipped the loop around the dog's head.
As word of the rescue spread quickly through the storm-weary town, the Carabetta family arrived minutes later to lay claim to the puppy -- a six-month Sharpei-Chow mix named Shadow.
The Carabettas, who live nearby, said Shadow had been missing since a tornado steamrolled through Monson on Wednesday, destroying or seriously damaging virtually everything in its path.
According to state police, Audrey Carabetta said her family retreated to their cellar with one of their two dogs, but Shadow got "sucked out of the house by the tornado."
She said her family searched everywhere for Shadow and posted pictures online, but had pretty much given up hope of finding the dog alive.
Pearl described the rescue as "very gratifying." .
Police said the dog wasn't injured in the storm. But he was wicked tired and hungry.
THE MAP BELOW shows the approximate location of where a puppy was found alive and well Saturday under the rubble of a collapsed home at 20 Stewart Avenue, Monson:
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