Heroes Archives - Page 25 of 30

Springer Spaniel and Dog Dad Rescue Stranded Baby Dolphin

As Rich Wilcock prepared to go fishing on a beach in Wales, his 2-year-old Springer Spaniel, Leia, started making a “right old fuss,” Wilcock told the Daily Post.

Leia barked and nudged her dog dad. “She doesn’t usually bark or make that sort of sound,” Wilcock told the Leader.

She led him down a beach in Criccieth to a small dolphin that had washed up on the shore.

“At first I thought it was a baby shark,” Wilcock told the Post. “It was only about one-and-a-half foot, but on a closer inspection, I could see the blow hole on top of his head and realized it was a dolphin.”

He said Leia must have smelled the dolphin from a mile away.

People who come across stranded marine animals are usually advised not to touch them, and to notify authorities. But Wilcock could not get a signal on his cell phone.

“I was miles from anywhere and he was getting restless,” he told the Leader.

Wilcock, who made a video recording of the rescue, said he did what he could as gently as possible. “I lifted him gently under the belly and popped him back amongst the waves, and he swam away into deeper water,” he told the Post.

Wilcock and Leia remained on the beach for an hour to make sure the dolphin was safely back at sea.

“With the strong winds we are getting at the moment, it is quite possible he just got blown out of the way and stranded rather than having anything seriously wrong with him,” a spokesperson with the nonprofit Sea Watch Foundation, which monitors and improves the conservation of dolphins and whales in the UK, told the Post.

“It’s great to see people (and dogs!) helping out wildlife,” the spokesperson said.

Leia “is a very intelligent dog, more intelligent than most,” her proud dog dad told the Post.

Photo via YouTube

Firefighter Carries Dog 2 Miles from Utah Mountain Ledge to Safety

A 1-year-old Vizsla named Rue had a rueful experience over the weekend. Spooked by fireworks on the Fourth of July, she escaped from her Salt Lake City yard, ran more than three miles and, after injuring a paw, became stranded on a ledge along a mountain trail.

Fortunately, a hiker saw Rue the next day and called 911. A crew from Salt Lake Fire Station 10 hiked over two miles up the Shoreline Trail to reach Rue, who wasn’t moving.

They gave the dehydrated dog water, then firefighter Tony Stowe hoisted Rue onto his shoulders and carried her down the trail to safety.

Rue, who was microchipped, was reunited with her relieved family yesterday. The injury to her paw was minor.

“My son-in-law takes her and the other dog they have in the car to the Shoreline Trail and goes mountain biking with them,” Danny Morgan told ABC 4 News. “So she knows the area, but doesn’t know how to get to the area on foot.”

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Salt Lake County Animal Services received more than 180 calls about stray dogs, according to ABC 4 News.

“We’re just happy that the dog is okay and we had a successful rescue,” Fire Capt. Ginger Barraclough told ABC 4 News. “We’re honored to be able to work with Animal Services and help dogs. They’re a member of a lot of people’s families.”

Photos via Facebook

Rescued Pit Bulls Save 3-Year-Old Girl from Bear

As a 3-year-old girl played in her Long Valley, N.J., backyard yesterday morning with Chief, one of her family’s four rescued Pit Bulls, a 400-pound bear that was well known in the neighborhood climbed over a fence.

“Usually the dogs will chase him off and he’ll climb over the fence and wait (for the dogs) to come inside,” the girl’s mom, Emily Wagner, told the Long Valley Patch. “He’s very smart.”

However, the bear wasn’t so smart yesterday.

“I looked up and the bear was about 15 feet from her and walking right toward her,” Wagner said. “The bear was between us. Chief heard her scream and immediately grabbed the bear’s back leg, at which point the bear turned and bit Chief’s face and leg.”

Wagner ran and grabbed her daughter, while the other three Pit Bulls helped Chief chase the bear away.

By the time police arrived, the bear had disappeared into the nearby woods.

Chief is okay, Wagner wrote on the Long Valley Patch Facebook page this morning.

“Fish and Game informed me that it’s mating season for bears, and they’re more active during the day,” she wrote. “Just a heads up to be vigilant with children and pets outside.”

According to the Patch, local police advised residents to call their non-emergency line to report bears coming too closely to their properties, and to call 911 in case of emergencies.

Photo via Facebook (from left: Chief, Chloe, Mack and Idget)

Rescued Pit Bull Rescues Unresponsive Dog Dad

There’s nothing quite like a story about a rescued dog who pays it forward by saving the life of its new pet parent. Fortunately, there seem to be plenty of these stories.

Most recently, a 6-year-old Pit Bull named Sweet Dee found her dog dad, Elliot Nerland, unresponsive on a couch in their Boston home.

Sweet Dee, who’d been adopted from the MSPCA five years ago by Nerland and his wife, Erin Daly, had sensed something was wrong. She left the bedroom where she was sleeping with Daly and approached Nerland on the couch. When her dog dad didn’t respond, Sweet Dee started barking. She ran back to the bedroom and nudged Daly with her nose until she awoke.

Nerland, who has a rare heart condition, was in full cardiac arrest. Daly called 911 and performed CPR on her husband.

“At this stage, Elliott’s heart had stopped and he was not breathing,” Daly said in a press release. “I credit Sweet Dee with making it very clear that something was terribly wrong. Had I made it there even one minute later, Elliott may not be with us today.”

After being rushed to the hospital and put in a medically induced coma for two days, Nerland was sent home.

“It’s just astounding how Sweet Dee knew that something was very wrong and that it was clear to her that I wasn’t sleeping,” Nerland said. “She’s a beloved member of our family, but I never realized just how deep our bond is. Both Dee and my wife were there for me when I needed them most, and I’m forever humbled and profoundly grateful.”

Dr. Terri Bright, director of the MSPCA’s Behavior Services department, said Sweet Dee’s heroic act illustrates the incredible bond shared by dogs and their pet parents.

“I think Sweet Dee knew something was horribly wrong and that she should sound the alarm, and she did so without fear of punishment for barking loudly,” Dr. Bright said. “She barked and woke Erin up, so in her own dog way, made it clear that Elliott needed help. She’s a hero — and so is Erin for administering life-saving CPR.”

CBS Boston reports that when Nerland got home from the hospital, Sweet Dee was rewarded with a “big, juicy steak.”

Sweet, Dee!

Photo credit: Elliot Nerland

Thanks to Hero Pit Bull, Michigan Town Ends Breed Ban

As Jamie Dopke began beating his girlfriend, Jamie Kraczkowski, two months ago, her Pit Bull, Isis, sprang into action.

“When my head got hit against the wall, she just grabbed his pant leg and she was done,” Kraczkowski, of Hazel Park, Mich., told WJBK. “She was done with him abusing me — and abusing her.”

Kraczkowski’s now ex-boyfriend stopped hitting her and left. Unfortunately, because Hazel Park enforced a breed ban, Krackowski and Isis also had to leave their home, or the hero dog would have been confiscated and euthanized.

With help from a GoFundMe account Kraczkowski created, the two were able to move to another town, where they’re both “doing great,” she told the Huffington Post this week.

Because breed-specific legislation (BSL), which includes Pit Bull bans, is so unfair — not to mention costly to enforce and proven to be ineffective in increasing public safety — it is opposed by President Obama and virtually all major animal welfare organizations: the ASPCA, AVMA, HSUS, etc., etc. For these reasons, the trend has been to repeal these useless bans.

The latest town to repeal its ban? Hazel Park. Last week, city officials voted unanimously to end it, thanks to Isis.

“We are really excited,” Courtney Protz-Sanders, whose Michigan’s Political Action Committee for Animals campaigned for the repeal, told the Huffington Post. “We’re happy.”

Hazel Park is not, however, eliminating BSL altogether. It will still impose special requirements for Pit Bull owners. The dogs must be licensed, pass behavioral assessment tests and be fenced properly, and their owners must have home insurance.

“I am very happy with this decision. But I think we still have a long way to go,” Mike Toma, a Hazel Park resident who has two Pit Bulls, told the Daily Tribune. After Kraczkowski’s story made news headlines in March, Toma was also given five days to relocate his dogs.

“If it comes between where I live and my dogs, it’s gonna be my dogs 10 times out of 10,” he told the Daily Tribune at the time.

Photo via GoFundMe.com