On Friday, a service dog gave birth to 8 puppies in the middle of Tampa Airport. The Rescue Department of Tampa was in charge to provide the new mother with treatment and then documented the astonishing delivery.
Ellie, the new mother who was en-route to Philadelphia with a passenger gave birth to a litter of puppies on the Airport. The whole story was posted on the social media by the Tampa Fire Department. The fire department made a Twitter post in which they captioned the post with the words that an air traveler giving birth to a litter of puppies during her work hours, and this shows that they are a full-service department.
Seven boys, one girl. Time to rest, #Ellie. #AirportPuppies @FlyTPA @TPAPolice @CityofTampa pic.twitter.com/8QAP9YPo4z
— Tampa Fire Rescue (@TampaFireRescue) May 25, 2018
Many people liked and cheered the posts made by the Tampa Fire Rescue. When Ellie gave birth to 8 puppies, her owner was right beside her. Seven of those puppies were male while one was a female. Wearing a denim pant and a Hawaiian shirt, the owner then embraced Eillie in the process to comfort her.
The astonishing delivery took place at one of the seating gates in front of everyone. As soon as Ellie gave birth to the puppies, she was surrounded by a cotton and plastic surface to provide her with a sterile surface and protect the surface of the Airport’s carpet.
While giving an interview, the spokesperson of the Airport told that the service dog Ellie was on her way to Philadelphia with a woman and her daughter when she (Ellie) went into labor. After that, the woman said that they were aware of Ellie’s pregnancy but they did not know that she was so close. At first, the mother gave birth to seven male puppies but with the help of Tampa Fire Rescue’s medical team, Ellie was able to give birth to the 8th, a female puppy.
#Ellie is the proud mother of 6 boys so far…The delivery crew including @TPAPolice @flytpa awaits number 7. Will it be a girl? #AirportPuppies pic.twitter.com/Wla9iHjGEJ
— Tampa Fire Rescue (@TampaFireRescue) May 25, 2018
The unusual delivery caught the attention of the huge crowd as passengers, Airport officers and employees all gathered to see the historic delivery. Nugget, the proud papa was also among the viewers. As soon as the 8th puppy came out, there was a round of applause and a few barks echoed at the Airport. Due to the delay caused by Ellie’s delivery, the mother and the daughter missed their flight to Philadelphia. According to the rule, Airlines do not allow puppies to fly until they are 8 weeks old. And now the family will have to find another way of traveling with 10 puppies instead of two.
Later it was revealed that the 2-year-old Eleanor Rigby, also known as Ellie along with her husband Nugget and the owner Diane Van Atter were waiting for a flight to go back to home Philadelphia when this delivery took place. Due to the delivery, the whole family missed the flight and then created a fuzzy scene at Airport for 3 hours. The scene gathered the Aiport officials and many travelers to stop by and capture the memorable scenes in their mobile phones. Apart from the medical team of Tampa Airport, a nurse also assisted in Ellie’s delivery. And then the nurse had to leave the delivery process to catch her own flight.
Mom’s name is Ellie, short for Eleanor Rigby. Two year old yellow lab pic.twitter.com/dzPCn8mdoN
— Tampa Fire Rescue (@TampaFireRescue) May 25, 2018
Emily Nipps, the spokeswoman of the Tampa Airport said that people keep coming and going while charging their mobiles, sipping coffees and seeing puppies come out one by one. Nipps further said that that owner of Ellie, Van Atter said that she has pain issues and Ellie was still in training process. Karen James, the stepmother of Van Atter who was also set to fly to Philadelphia, said that they knew about Ellie’s pregnancy but the excitement of being surrounded by so many people may trigger the early delivery. The stepmother was engaged on phone with Tampa Bay Times when everyone yelled, “Another one came out”.
During the delivery, James was holding the excited dad with a leash and with every new birth, Nugget started jumping. James further told that after the delivery, they planned to find a dolly and took the mom and newborns out of the Airport. After that, they planned to go back to Bradenton to have some rest and then figure out how to drive to Philadelphia with the newborns.