Lucky Dogs Live 18 Days in Taiwan Quake Rubble

TAIPEI, Taiwan —  Two dogs were pulled from the rubble of Taiwan’s recent killer earthquake over the weekend, having miraculously survived for 437 hours, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The pet’s master heard their whining as he was sifting through the remains of his house in central Nantou county in search of valuable family documents, the mass-circulation China Times said. The family all survived.

Primary school headmaster Lin Yen-chen told the paper that he and his family had long since given up hope of finding the dogs alive after the Sept. 21 quake, which killed more than 2,000 people.

Family members said they suspected that the dogs--Lucky and Paopao--had survived under a wooden chair, eating thawed meat from the nearby freezer and drinking water from an aquarium.