#TBT to that time some rescuers saved a cave full of puppies

Grab the tissues because we have quite the Throwback Thursday story for you. (Spoilers: It involves rescuing puppies.)

Back in March, a rescue organization called Hope for Paws followed a lead to rescue six puppies hidden in a cave by some railroad tracks, discovering in the process there were nine. After some bribing, wrangling and excavating, the puppies were saved and are now doing delightfully with a surrogate mom.

Hope for Paws first shared video of the rescue three months ago, before The Dodo made a 1:42 minute cut of the 16 minute original.

In a heartbreaking turn of events, the group received word of the puppies stuck in a cave near railroad tracks while in town for the funeral of their friend and fellow rescuer, a woman named Lisa Ashe. As the video details, they tried to coax the puppies out with cheeseburger. After rescuing one, the pups got spooked and retreated into the cave again. So Hope for Paws did some digging and went in after them. Four puppies in, the team realized there were even more puppies 18 feet into the cave, so they got a shovel and worked to dig them out — taking care that the cave didn’t collapse on the little ones.

Hearing the sweet puppies cry as they’re pulled from the cave is a little heartbreaking but seeing them recover and calm down as they’re comforted by the team is adorable. We recommend jumping to the end of the full video to see the nine lil pups with their surrogate mom, wagging their tales happily and running toward the camera.

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