You won't believe how they rescued a dog that fell into hot tar in India

After a dog slipped into hot tar in India, an animal rescue team produced a heartwarming video of their response. 

YouTube screen grab

October 2, 2014

It was a happy ending for a dog who slipped into hot tar in Rajasthan in western India, thanks to a team of animal rescue workers.

The Daily Mail reported the helpless animal was unable to move after the chunky substance cooled, coating its fur. A passer-by spotted the dog laying on the ground -- at that point covered in dirt and twigs -- and phoned a local rescue center based in Udaipur, Rajasthan. 

We received a call on our help-line that a dog was stuck in a pool of tar behind the Town Hall in Udaipur, India.

We immediately sent our ambulance to find a young dog completely covered in a pool of tar that had leaked out of a container. We could see his eyes darting back and forth in a panic, but otherwise he couldn’t move a muscle.

The tar was nearly rock solid, but still warm enough for us to pull the dog out of the tar so that we could bring him to our shelter for treatment.

The team from Animal Aid Unlimited captured the rescue in a video which shows four sets of hands gently massaging the dog with vegetable oil to break down the thick layer of tar coating the dog’s fur. The dog lays still through the process, apparently only able to blink his eyes.

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The group said that it took three hours over two days to remove all of the hardened tar (and everything stuck in it).

The final scene of the short clip shows the dark brown dog -- a bit scraggly but tar-free -- wagging his tail as he is thrown treats.