This is the dramatic moment a police officer rescued an abandoned horse from a well in Argentina.
The horse, about 15 years old, was found lying inside a 9-foot-deep hole and covered in a pool of fecal waste and mud after police responded to a 911 call in the central city of Rosario on Saturday.
Video footage released by police shows Officer Carlos Pereyra being lowered into the well.
Once inside, Pereyra tied a harness to the horse, which had been lying there for about 10 hours.
It took police nearly three hours to rescue a horse that was found abandoned inside a 9-foot-deep well in Rosario, Argentina, on Saturday. Authorities said the horse, which was trapped in the well for 10 hours, had a history of abuse.
Police officer Carlos Pereyra was in charge of rescuing the horse, which “was having difficulty breathing, had ingested fecal matter and was exhausted.”
The video shows the struggling horse being slowly pulled out of the pit and placed on the grass while moving its hind legs.
“He had difficulty breathing, had swallowed fecal matter and was exhausted,” Pereyra told television channel El Tres.
“We had to act urgently, he had given up. We arrived with a mobile crane that we used to get him down,” Pereyra explained. “We put the strap on him so we could lift him up and a muzzle so he could get his head out of the liquids he was submerged in. He couldn’t stand up.”
After the rescue, which lasted almost three hours, the horse was hydrated and bathed.
Rosario Police Chief Daniel Ojeda said the horse had a history of abuse.
The horse has been named Alexis, after the Argentine and Liverpool star Alexis Mac Callister, due to the similarity in the shade of red of his coat.
Alexis is being cared for on a farm in the hopes that someone will adopt him.
Authorities said Alexis is blind in one eye because he was beaten.
‘A blow left him blind in one eye, he has abnormalities in all four limbs from having to drag a cart since he was little, and his blood vessels are deformed from using a brick to step on,’ said Ojeda.
The horse was named Alexis, after the Argentine national team and Liverpool football star Alexis Mac Allister, due to the similarity in the red tone of his coat.
He was taken to a farm and remains under observation in the hope that someone will adopt him.
“All he has done is suffer and be exploited,” Ojeda said. “Today must be the first day of peace he has ever had.”