An Animal Rahat scout noticed a crowd of people standing around a drainage ditch. As he approached, he saw that this puppy had fallen into the water and couldn’t get out. Although it would have been possible to reach in and grab the puppy, the villagers were hesitant to do so because the puppy’s distressed mother was standing nearby and they were fearful that she might interpret a rescue attempt as a threat to her puppy. So our scout had everyone move away in order to ease the mother dog’s worries.

He gently and carefully lifted the puppy out of the water, made sure he was free of injuries, and then watched as the pup dashed joyfully back to his relieved mother.

Inside that little red circle (below) is another puppy who had fallen into a place he couldn’t escape from—this time a 25-foot-deep well. Immediately after receiving a call about the animal’s plight, our scout rushed to the scene and came up with a plan. He put a piece of chapati (a tasty Indian flatbread) in a bucket, tied the bucket to a long rope, and lowered it into the well until it reached the bottom and tipped over onto its side.

It worked: The hungry puppy crawled into the bucket to get the chapati, and our scout was able to haul him back up to safety. The pup was quickly reunited with his mother, who was waiting nearby. One of our vets arrived on the scene to check the animal for injuries and—miraculously—found none.