Toffee's Great Rescue

"An Amazing Story of Courage and Determination"

It took seven years to finally write this story about a tiny blind and deaf puppy rescued from a crevice. The story is pretty incredible and needed to be told, so with the urging of my friends and neighbors, I finally sat down and wrote the book. The book teaches us that, with courage and determination, we can overcome even the toughest challenges. It reminds us that no matter how difficult a situation may seem, there's always a way forward if we're willing to search for it. 

The actual rescue of Toffee unfolded in the final days of June 2018. While joyfully exploring the backyard of her foster family, she stumbled upon a narrow crevice hidden within the rocky terrain. Before anyone could react, she had slipped into the gap, leaving her foster family in shock and determined to save her.

The rescue mission for Toffee became a powerful display of unity as the entire community of Huntsville, Alabama, came together to save the blind and deaf puppy. The fire department, police department, and local rescue experts coordinated their efforts, facing the challenge of locating Toffee without being able to call out to her. The crevice was only six inches wide and two feet long, making it impossible for anyone to climb down to locate Toffee. Among the team of rescuers was a local plumber who devised a solution to locate Toffee using a small fiber optic camera, typically employed to detect issues in home water or sewer systems.  

The team used 10-foot sections of two-inch PVC pipe with a flashlight taped to the bottom of the first section to illuminate the dark crevice. The camera was placed inside the pipe with the fiber cord connected to a laptop to display the descent into the crevice. The team kept connecting additional pieces of 10-foot sections of PVC pipe to see if they could locate Toffee. After using three sections and reaching 30 feet it was looking pretty grim. However, the team kept going, adding another section to search down to 40 feet, but still there was no sign of Toffee. Determined to keep going, the team added another 10-foot section. They lowered the pipe back down the crevice, and to everyone's surprise, they located Toffee at 49 feet down, resting on a small rocky ledge. 

Now that they had located her, they had to devise a way to bring her back up the crevice. Using more PVC pipes, they secured a large fishing net to the bottom of the first pipe and then weaved a snare made of parachute cord into the net to secure Toffee in the net. They put dog biscuits in the net to attract Toffee to the net and then lowered the net down the crevice next to Toffee. Toffee moved to the net to grab the biscuits, and put her head in the net, but the parachute cord snare was not rigid enough to secure Toffee in the net. Toffee backed away from the net and sought refuge further back into the rocky ledge. The team was so close to securing Toffee, but they realized they needed a better snare to grab Toffee once she put her head in the net. While trying to come up with a better solution, the team encountered additional problems. 

The camera batteries went dead, and without the camera, the team could not affect the rescue of Toffee. So, it took a couple of hours to find new batteries. Meanwhile, news crews gathered at the site to cover the rescue operation. People from all over the community came to help and observe the situation. At one point, there were more than 150 people in the backyard. Once the new batteries were found the rescue resumed, and it was now almost 7 in the evening on the second day. Darkness would be a problem, but the community rallied and brought in lighting systems, which allowed rescue operations to continue. Then, a representative from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) arrived on site to provide the rescue team with a stainless-steel snare that was rigid enough to grab Toffee when she entered the net. 

The net was reconfigured with the new snare and lowered down the crevice. They just needed Toffee to put her head back in the net to grab the biscuits, but she showed no interest in moving from her refuge on the rocky shelf.  For hours the team watched Toffee to see if they could get her up and moving to the net, locating the net as close to her as they could. Everyone was worried that if they did not get her up and moving, she would soon be too tired and weak to be rescued. She has been in the crevice for over two days without food or water. 

Around midnight of the third day the team realized they needed something to stimulate Toffee to move to the net. The only thing that could make that happen was using a different type of food in the net. One of the rescuers had a can of sardines in his truck, and it was decided to place them in the net to see if they could get Toffee up and moving.  The net was brought back up, and the sardines were placed in the net.  It was now almost 1 a.m. when the net was lowered down the crevice. The team placed the net as close to Toffee as possible. They watched on the laptop. Toffee alerted to the sardines and began moving to inspect the net. She put her head in the net to grab the food, and one of the rescuers pulled on the snare and secured Toffee into the net. The rescue team slowly pulled the net back up the crevice, and as the net emerged from the crevice, one of the rescuers grabbed Toffee and removed the snare.  

They had done it. The entire backyard was a scene of elation. Everyone cheered wildly as Toffee was handed to her foster mom. The chances of actually rescuing Toffee were very slim. Still, through sheer courage and determination, the team of rescuers had brought Toffee up the crevice and given her a second chance at life.    

The story of Toffee's Great Rescue is based on this actual rescue and highlights the power of community to solve the toughest challenges. I hope you enjoy reading the book.

Richard