A dog that plunged from a top floor window of an apartment block in Brazil survived after a neighbour managed to catch it in a cardboard box.
The Yorkshire Terrier, called Alicinha, had escaped through the window of its owner’s flat while she was was out and became trapped.
Neighbour Clarisse Saraiva da Silva, who lives below, was alerted to the stricken dog and ran to her window to see it clinging to a shutter above.
After finding the owner wasn’t home she gave a blanket to the building’s caretaker to put on the ground below, grabbed a cardboard box, filled it with clothes and held it out of her window.
A video shows the heart-stopping moment the dog loses its grip and falls, before Clarisse manages to catch it in the box.
The box then falls out of her hand but thankfully landed on the blanket below and, probably because of break in the fall and the cushioning, the dog survived unharmed.
The dramatic rescue happened on Thursday afternoon at an apartment block in Guarulhos on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.
Clarisse said she sprung into action after returning home around 3pm and hearing neighbours screaming and asking for help.
She told a local TV station: ‘People started calling me and when I went to the window to see what all the fuss was a about and I saw the little dog I ran upstairs and started knocking on the door but go no answer.
‘Then I grabbed a blanket and left it with the caretaker so he could make a mattress in case she fell.
‘The box was a last-minute idea and I thought, “If you can’t hold on, at least soften the fall.”
Clarisse said her neighbours had called the owner on her mobile, but she was stuck in traffic.
‘She was very afraid when she found out what had happened.
‘She was very emotional when she returned and we could hand Alicinha back to her.’
Local residents said they thought the dog had climbed up a protective net over the window and got out through a hole at the top.
It’s not clear how many feet the animal had fallen.
Clarisse admitted: ‘I felt a lot of pressure and very relieved when it was all over.’
The video was shared on social media. One user posted: ‘Think of someone who deserves a medal.’
Another described Clarisse as a ‘heroin’.
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