A Portage County family is grieving the loss of a family pet, who drowned in Lake Du Bay Friday after falling through thin ice.

Though Susan Suthers called 911, she and her husband Corey say she didn't get the help she needed.

"I didn't know what else to do, my dog went out on the ice because these snow geese were out here and he fell through and it's thick enough that I can't, he can't get up," Suthers told dispatchers in a recorded 911 call. "He fell through and I don't know how to get him out."

Suthers were home alone when she looked out the picture window and saw her newly adopted dog, Miles, struggling to get out of the ice-covered lake.

After calling her husband, who was several miles away, she called 911.

"I needed help. I didn't know what else to do. I thought I was, it was the right thing to do," she said.

But the Portage County Sheriff's Department doesn't do animal rescues, unless an animal is posing a danger to people.

Suthers were instructed to call back on the non-emergency line and was put in touch with the Humane Society of Portage County, located in Plover and about a 20 minute drive. The humane society employee said she'd be over as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Miles was barely holding on.

"I was trying to go out to save my baby but there was nothing I could do. There was nobody here to back me up, to help me," Suthers said.

Her neighbors weren't home, and she couldn't get her family's kayak down from the garage by herself. She got into the water, trying to break the ice to no avail.

By the time the humane employee and her husband arrived, Miles had gone under.

"It's disappointing when you hear one community that'll go out and save an animal, and another community that says no, we don't save animal," said Corey Suthers.

Portage County Sheriff' John Charewicz says he himself is a dog lover and says it's unfortunate Miles drowned, but the county has limited resources and they can't respond to animal calls.

"We're not set up to handle that," he said.

But the Suthers say, if only a deputy or another emergency worker would have been sent right away, or if dispatchers would have put a call out to surrounding areas, maybe Miles could have been rescued.

"It's their job to come out and help," Corey Suthers said.

NewsChannel 7 checked with other sheriff's departments on animal rescue. Both Marathon and Wood counties said they do respond to animal rescue calls, but they wouldn't put a deputy in danger.