ROCKPORT — Did you hear the one about the Jack Russell terrier and the red fox stuck in a hole in Rockport Monday morning?

Rockport Police and the town's animal control officer were called to a property at Brewster Point, off Warrenton Avenue, late Monday morning, where it was reported that a fox and a dog were trapped together in a hole.

According to Evan Drinkwater, he and his father, Kurt, and his sister, Addie, were walking their 3-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Lucy, in the Brewster Point neighborhood when Lucy spied a fox.

"We were on the street and she saw the fox. I didn't see it, but she did and she took off and ran around the house," said Evan. "We were standing out there for five minutes yelling and waiting for her. She'll run off and chase squirrels but then come back, but she didn't."

Evan said she still didn't come back, but he could hear her barking and went to look for her.

"I went up to the house and I could hear her under the deck, then I heard another sound, and she whimpered, and so I busted through the lattice around the bottom of the deck and went underneath and put a flashlight down where she was and saw the fox curled up and her next to it, barking at it," said Evan.

Where Lucy and the fox ended up was over and down a cement wall foundation, into a semi-circular hole about 8- to 10-feet deep. The space between the floor of the deck and the top of the old cement foundation wall was about 6 or 8 inches, just enough to poke a head and a flashlight through. Further complicating the situation was that the foundation’s edge was just two board’s distance from the frame of the French doors and the building itself.

Frantic to rescue Lucy, to see if she was injured and to get her away from the fox, Evan dialed 911. That call brought Rockport Police Chief Mark Kelley and ACO Maynard Stanley to the home with expansive views of Penobscot Bay and the Camden Hills. Mike Sabatini, of Landmark Corporation, was also eventually called, as he is Brewster Point’s project manager and could offer insight into how they might be able to get Lucy and the fox out.

Because it was impossible to access the animals from under the deck, it was determined that a few deck boards would need to be removed to access them from above, which Sabatini approved of. Once the two boards between the structure and the cement foundation were removed, flashlights showed that the fox was hunkered down low at one end of the space and Lucy was standing guard and barking at the other end. They were separated by about 12 feet in the small space, and Lucy appeared unhurt, as did the fox though it never moved much.

Stanley told the Drinkwaters that the fox would have to be killed and tested for rabies, since it had come into contact with Lucy.

According to the Maine Center for Disease Control Division of Infectious Diseases, Maine’s most commonly infected animals are skunks, raccoons, bats, and foxes. A rabies exposure happens when the saliva or neural tissue of a rabid animal comes in contact with a person or animal through a bite or scratch, cut in the skin, or gets into the eyes, nose, or mouth. And when a pet comes into contact with a wild animal, rabies testing is needed on the wild animal to rule out rabies, according to the state CDC.

And so Stanley shot and killed the fox, and it was hoisted up out of the hole after a noose was looped around its front leg. He then took the fox away to be sent to the state lab for testing.

With the fox no longer hindering the situation, the challenge was to get Lucy out. Attempts were made to coax the terrier to walk up a long board covered with towels that they lowered into the hole, but the angle was too steep and the board too wobbly for Lucy to give it a go. They spent a good hour working through the possibilities, adding another board and cajoling the dog as she seemed to understand what was being asked, but didn't dare move up the board.

At one point, a neighbor even stopped by and offered to bring over some food to encourage the dog up. And if nothing else, some hot drinks for the rescuers.

Evan also offered on more than one occasion to try and slip through the small space to lift the dog up, but his father said, "No, it's one thing to try and get the dog out of there, I don't need to rescue my son too."

Ultimately, the Drinkwaters turned to a large fishing net they had brought to the scene when they also went to get a saws-all to cut through the deck. Lashing the net to the end of Stanley's long catch pole, Kurt worked to encourage Lucy to step onto the net before lifting it around her to keep her inside. Then they slowly began to lift her up, inch by inch, until she was out of her predicament.

Wagging her tail, Kurt hugged her and brought off the deck to the yard, where she made a beeline for his face, and licked it.

"I hate to say this but if the fox tests positive for rabies, she'll have to be quarantined and you'll have to go through treatment too now," said Stanley.

For Kurt Drinkwater, who said Lucy just received a rabies booster last week, and his family, the possibility of a quarantine and a series of rabies shots for him doesn't matter. They needed to fix the damage to the home, and sign Lucy up for agility course training so she knows how to climb up a narrow board, just in case that skill is needed again in the future.

Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards can be reached at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com or 706-6655.