UTICA, N.Y. — A frantic effort to save what was believed to be a puppy trapped in an upstate New York city's sewer system has a happy ending.

That's because there was no trapped puppy, just a sewer system that sounds like one.

Local media outlets report city workers in Utica received a call Tuesday morning from employees at an insurance office reporting what sounded like a puppy trapped beneath the building.

Firefighters and utility employees joined the effort as crews used tools and a backhoe to dig a hole to gain access to a sewer. After two hours of searching, they realized there wasn't an animal trapped in a pipe.

Officials say a mechanical problem in the sewer mimicked the sound of an animal in distress. They're looking into fixing the problem.