Bill Kramer, who owns a towing and hauling business, was driving with his dog down busy Interstate 94 in North Dakota Monday when he saw the unthinkable: Someone pushed a Pit Bull out of a car and onto the busy highway.
The dazed dog sat between lanes as traffic rushed by her at 75 mph.
Kramer immediately stopped and used the 30-foot trailer he was towing to block traffic. He got out of his truck and, crawling on his hands and knees, approached the dog. She was bleeding and had a broken leg.
“At first, I thought, ‘This is stupid. I’m going to get run over,'” Kramer told the Bismarck Tribune. But he knew if he left her there, she would not survive. “I was nervous for her.”
The scared Pit Bull — Kramer named her Celine Dion — wouldn’t budge until Kramer’s own dog jumped out of the truck and succeeded in getting her to follow him back inside the cab.
When Kramer got home, he made a Facebook post about the dog whose live he’d saved.
“That’s when all hell broke loose,” he told the Bismarck Tribune. He got responses from across the country from people wanting to make donations to pay for Celine’s care, or to send pet supplies. Adoption offers also poured in.
Celine was treated for her fractured leg and some facial trauma at West Dakota Veterinary Clinic. She’ll need to wear a cast for a few weeks, but is expected to make a full recovery.
“It was certainly a horrific incident for the dog and for the man that rescued it,” the clinic’s Kim Brummond told the Bismarck Tribune.
Kramer received about $850 in donations to help pay Celine’s vet bill. “That was kind of cool how people banded together to do something,” he told the Bismarck Tribune.
A friend of his has adopted Celine, and Kramer said he’ll post photos on Facebook of the lucky dog’s progress.
Until he rescued Celine, Kramer said he had only heard negative things about Pit Bulls.
“She’s a sweet, sweet dog,” he told the Bismarck Tribune. “It definitely tugs at my heartstrings.”
Photos via Facebook