Poodle named Beyli pulled alive from Venezuela earthquake rubble after 29 days

A dog survived nearly a month trapped beneath a collapsed building in one of Venezuela's hardest-hit earthquake zones, and has now been reunited with the 11-year-old girl who lost her mother and grandmother in the disaster.

First responders in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, pulled a dust-covered poodle named Beyli from the wreckage of a building that collapsed during the June 24 twin earthquakes, KOMO News reported. The dog had been buried for 29 days. Video circulating on social media showed rescue workers carefully lifting Beyli from the debris and giving him water.

Beyli was found curled up next to the body of his owner's deceased mother inside the collapsed structure. The girl's grandmother also died in the earthquakes. The 11-year-old owner, identified by the New York Post as Victoria Isabel Rengel, has since been reunited with Beyli at a temporary shelter where both are recovering.

The twin earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, striking just seconds apart, killed more than 5,500 people, seriously injured thousands more, and flattened thousands of buildings across Venezuela. Catia La Mar was among the communities that took the worst damage. The back-to-back earthquakes devastated Venezuela on a scale that overwhelmed the country's emergency response capacity.

Veterinarians call Beyli's survival 'extraordinary'

Beyli was severely dehydrated when rescuers reached him and is suffering from eye ulcers caused by weeks of exposure to dust and debris without any lubrication. Veterinarians treating the dog said his prognosis is favorable.

A veterinarian identified only as Mirna described the outcome in blunt terms. As she told reporters:

"Really it is a miracle. It is a miracle everything that has happened with him, he has some ulcers in the eyes, but soon he will be fine."

A separate veterinary assessment, reported by the Mexican outlet Diario de Morelos, offered more clinical detail:

"Beyli is clinically stable. From a physiological standpoint, his survival is extraordinary considering the amount of time that passed without basic necessities. He has eye ulcers caused by prolonged exposure to dust and a lack of lubrication, but his prognosis is favorable with the treatment he is receiving."

How Beyli survived 29 days without food or reliable water remains unclear. Dogs can endure extended periods without food longer than without water, and conditions inside the rubble, temperature, moisture, access to small amounts of liquid, likely played a role, though no detailed explanation has been provided by rescue teams or veterinarians beyond the basic assessment.

Victoria Isabel Rengel lost her family but got her dog back

For Victoria Isabel Rengel, the reunion carried a weight no 11-year-old should have to bear. She lost both her mother and her grandmother when the earthquakes struck on June 24. The two women were inside the building that collapsed on top of Beyli.

Victoria and Beyli are now together at a temporary shelter. The details of how Victoria herself survived the quakes, and who is caring for her now, have not been reported.

Beyli's rescue is not an isolated case. The New York Post noted that multiple dogs have been pulled from rubble in the aftermath of the Venezuelan earthquakes, part of what reports have described as several remarkable survival stories to emerge from the disaster. Those accounts have offered rare points of hope amid a catastrophe that left many people homeless and entire neighborhoods leveled.

More than a month later, crews shift from rescue to recovery

Emergency crews continue to search damaged neighborhoods in and around Catia La Mar more than a month after the earthquakes. But the nature of the work has changed. Most operations have shifted from active rescue to recovery, a grim acknowledgment that the window for finding survivors has largely closed.

Beyli's rescue, coming 29 days into that timeline, stands as one of the latest confirmed survivals. Natural disasters around the world have occasionally produced similar stories, people and animals found alive days or even weeks after buildings fell, but each case grows more improbable with time. Survival stories from other recent emergencies have reminded Americans how thin the line between rescue and loss can be.

The death toll from the June 24 earthquakes, more than 5,500 confirmed dead, makes this one of the deadliest seismic events in the Western Hemisphere in recent years. Thousands of buildings were destroyed. The full count of displaced residents has not been released, and infrastructure damage continues to complicate recovery efforts. Venezuela's capacity to manage a disaster of this scale has been a persistent concern, given the country's long-running economic and political instability.

Environmental and natural disasters across the Americas have tested emergency systems repeatedly this year, from wildfires choking cities across the continent to earthquakes reducing entire communities to rubble. Each event exposes the same hard truth: preparation and response capacity matter more than hope.

An 11-year-old girl lost her mother and her grandmother in a few seconds of shaking ground. Weeks later, a dust-covered poodle came back to her alive. In a disaster that took more than 5,500 lives, that small mercy is worth noticing, and so is the fact that the people who kept searching made it possible.