Puppies rescued from drainpipe after mother is killed (VIDEO)

Animal rescue can be as heartbreaking as it is uplifting, and no more so than the saga of Gaia, a dog abandoned in central California, and her three puppies. Eldad Hagar of Hope for Paws took on the mission, complicated by Gaia’s being hit by a car and left to die by the side of a road. Desperate enough to use the dead dog’s carcass to try to lure the trio out of their hiding place in a culvert connected to a deep well, Hagar eventually made the rescue of the terrified pups – and watching the little ones learning to play with their first toys is as heart-melting an image as you’ll find.