Dog Found Alive After 8 Days Under Earthquake Rubble in Venezuela

A dog named Buddy was found alive eight days after twin earthquakes tore through Venezuela's La Guaira state, pulled from the wreckage of his own home in the coastal town of Caraballeda.

The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck northern Venezuela on June 24, 2026, causing widespread damage across La Guaira, a densely populated coastal state just north of Caracas. Homes collapsed, and search and rescue teams worked through the debris in the days that followed, looking for survivors, both human and animal.

Eight days in the rubble

Video footage distributed by The Associated Press shows Buddy, described as a 6 year old dog, being pulled from the collapsed remains of his home in Caraballeda. According to the AP report, he had been trapped for eight days by the time rescuers reached him.

Exactly how the recovery effort located Buddy, and who carried it out, is not detailed in the available reporting. What is documented is the outcome: after more than a week under the wreckage of his own house, Buddy came out alive.

Not the only dog pulled from the rubble

Buddy's case was one of several similar stories to come out of the same disaster zone. CBS News reported separately on a dog named Giselle, found in the Residencial El Palmar complex in Caraballeda, rescued alive after five days by a search and rescue team from El Salvador during a five hour operation.

A border collie named Tsunami, working as an active search and rescue dog with handler Jorge Beens, was credited with helping locate dozens of survivors in the aftermath of the quakes, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Other reports referenced a dog found alive after even longer than Buddy, closer to a month after the earthquakes.

With multiple dogs rescued from the same collapsed neighborhoods over different timeframes, some names, day counts and details have circulated inconsistently across outlets. Buddy's eight day rescue in Caraballeda is the version confirmed directly through AP's own reporting.

Why pets are especially vulnerable after earthquakes

Earthquakes can trap animals inside collapsed structures the same way they trap people, but pets have no way to call for help or signal their location. Dogs and cats caught under rubble depend entirely on search teams noticing sound, scent or visual cues during recovery operations already focused on finding human survivors.

Survival periods of five to eight days without food, and in some cases longer, are not unheard of in structural collapse events, particularly when an air pocket forms and some water is accessible nearby. But the odds decline the longer an animal remains trapped, which is part of why stories like Buddy's draw so much attention: they represent survival at the edge of what is typically possible.

What happened next

Public reporting on Buddy's rescue has focused on the moment he was freed rather than on his longer term recovery or where he is now. Buddylio was not able to independently confirm further details about his post rescue veterinary care or current status, and this article will be updated if verified information becomes available.

The broader recovery effort in La Guaira continued for weeks after the initial quakes, with search and rescue teams, veterinary volunteers and local residents working through damaged neighborhoods to account for both people and animals still unaccounted for.

How we reported this: Buddylio reviewed the named sources, checked the organizations and figures shown above, and added context for animal lovers. Any illustration is labeled and does not depict the actual animals or scene. Articles are editorial content, not veterinary advice.