If the Boy Scouts of America offered an
”
Animal Rescue
”
badge, Matthew Brill would be sewing his on right now.
Hollister – If the Boy Scouts of America offered an “Animal Rescue” badge, Matthew Brill would be sewing his on right now.
On the way to a Cub Scout meeting May 10, Matthew’s mother, Kelly Brill, was changing CDs in her convertible Volkswagen Beetle at a stoplight on Airline Highway.
The 9-year-old Hollister boy heard a whimper. When he looked toward the curb, Matthew spotted a dog trapped in a storm drain.
The 9-year-old shepherd-catahoula, who belongs to Hollister resident Christine Nelson, had been missing for two days.
Hollister Fire Department firefighters lifted the heavy storm drain with a crowbar, and Nelson, 26, was eventually reunited with her pet, Bosco.
Matthew Brill, a fourth-grade student at Cerra Vista Elementary School, said his scout meeting could wait.
“I was relieved too, because they can put dogs down if they don’t know their owner,” Matthew said.
Kelly Brill said everything fell into place to find Bosco.
With the top down and a break in music, Matthew was able to hear the dog’s call for help, his mother said.
“We just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” she said.
No one is quite sure how Bosco found his way into the storm drain, but most agree that the rescue came just in time.
“I just don’t know how long that dog would have been there if no one had seen it,” Kelly Brill said.
