Ay, chihuahua.
Given up for dead, Bruno the chihuahua rose on the third day from the rubble of a Kensington house which collapsed over the weekend.
The collapse left the dog’s owner, Eric Carroll, hospitalized.
Emergency workers and Carroll’s relatives had twice tried to find the tiny pooch, before the dog emerged from the wreckage Monday afternoon.
“He didn’t have a scratch on him,” said Jen Leary, founder of Red Paws Emergency Relief Team.
Leary and her team were called to Sterner and Emerald streets early Saturday after workers from the Department of Licenses and Inspection noticed another chihuahua, named Paws, spotted on what had been the roof of the house. Leary said the team also rescued a cat, but could find no sign of Bruno.
Workers assumed the dog was dead, but relatives returned to the scene on Monday after speaking with Carroll.
Carroll, who was undergoing surgery at Temple University Hospital Monday and Tuesday, told them that he had been holding the dog for a time after the collapse, but let go of him as he tried to climb out, Leary said.
Relatives knew there was only one person the dog would respond to — John Carroll, Eric’s father. He had owned the dog with Eric’s mother. He arrived Monday afternoon and called for his canine friend until Bruno appeared.
“He sat in front of the house for two hours,” said Jose Feliciano, John Carroll’s son-in-law.
“He always knew the dog was alive.”
