Dog freed from beneath boulders

BALLARAT, Australia, May 31 (UPI) -- An Australian man said it took more than $2,000 and 100 hours of digging to free his family dog when it became trapped under nearly 50 tons of boulders.

Steve Porter said his 4-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Jessie, became wedged under the boulders while chasing a feral cat near Ballarat and was only able to move her head and front paw, the Melbourne Herald Sun reported Tuesday.

Porter said he and his son, Tom, tried to move the rocks with jacks and crowbars but they were eventually forced to call State Emergency Service rescuers to bring in a hydraulic ram to move the boulders.

The dog owner said Jessie had been stuck under the rocks for more than 100 hours when he was able to snare her with a dog-catching hoop at 9 p.m. Friday. He said he used a piece of fencing wire to feed Jessie while she was stuck.

"When we pulled her out and unhooked her she just jumped up the top to where I was and jumped straight into my lap," Porter said. "It's a miracle, really, when you see the size of the rock and the location and how restricted we were."