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After a Month, Elderly Blind Dog Finally Rescued from Well [Video]

As he searched a field for food weeks ago, an elderly blind dog fell into a 26-foot-deep well in Bosnia.

Local children would throw food down to the trapped dog, but no one informed animal rescuers Fahrudin Caki Bravo and Ratko Koblar about the poor dog’s predicament until last week.

“None of the locals felt compelled to rescue him, sadly,” wrote Laura Simpson, founder of the Harmony Fund, a nonprofit that helps animal rescue groups around the world, on its Facebook page. “It was only when rescuers from 200 kilometers [about 125 miles] away learned about this crisis, that they went straight over to help.”

The appropriately-named Bravo and Koblar brought climbing gear and some volunteers to the well. Using a rope, Koblar and the volunteers lowered Bravo down to the dog. Bravo wrapped the dog in an orange safety vest and hitched him to the rope. Koblar and the volunteers then ulled them both up to the surface. The rescue was captured on video.

“Surprisingly, the dog is in fairly good physical condition,” Simpson told ABC News.

The miracle dog has been named Christmas.

Simpson said Christmas is a very gentle dog with “a very sweet, and forgiving disposition.” She saw a video of Bravo giving Christmas a belly rub, and she said the happy dog “was in heaven.”

For now, Christmas is being cared for by a foster family.

“We’re hoping he can find a home there he’s loved and respected in the way he should be,” Simpson told ABC News.

To make a donation to the Harmony Fund to help Bravo and his team rescue more dogs in Bosnia, click here.

Photo via YouTube

‘Hugging’ Shelter Dogs Rescued Together Hours Before Being Euthanized

Hours before they were both scheduled to be euthanized yesterday at a high-kill Atlanta shelter, Kala and Keira were rescued — just two hours after a touching photo of the pair was posted on social media.

In the photo, posted on the Angels Among Us Pet Rescue Facebook page, Kala, a brown terrier mix, is clinging to the neck of her cellmate, a black-and-white Boxer mix named Keira.

Angels Among Us Pet Rescue is a nonprofit dedicated to saving the lives of pets in high-kill shelters in northern Georgia. Someone from the Atlanta shelter sent the organization the photo of Kala and Keira, hoping it would help get them rescued — and it worked.

“I’m Kala. This is Keira. We’re so scared in here,” reads the photo description, which is as moving as the photo itself.

“Can you see our faces. Keira knows what will happen. You can see it in her eyes. She’s putting on a brave face for sure, but I can feel her heart beating fast while I’m clinging to her. If no one saves us, someone will take her away from me. I’ll see her as she goes down the hallway. She won’t come back and I’ll cry. They’ll come for me next and I won’t be as brave. We’ve comforted each other while we were here. She gave me hope when I had none. Now it’s over. Unless…”

The photo quickly went viral. Exactly two hours and six minutes after it was posted, Kala and Keira were leaving the shelter — not via the euthanization room, but with the man who rescued both of them.

“There are no words to tell you how happy we are that these two best friends are safe and together!” Angels Among Us wrote on its Facebook page yesterday.

“Thank you for your shares, donations and offers! Just look at these two!! This is why we rescue. We can do amazing things when we all work together!”

To make a donation to Angels Among Us Pet Rescue, click here.

Photos via Facebook

Rabbit-Chasing Jack Russell Terrier Falls off Cliff into Sea (He’s Okay)

As he walked, leashless, alongside his pet parents Saturday afternoon on Anvil Point, a cliff overlooking the English Channel, a Jack Russell Terrier named Spott spotted a rabbit.

As terriers tend to do, Spott bolted after it. His pet parents watched in horror as Spott ran off the cliff, plunging into the sea below. (He fell 90 feet, according to the Swanage – Coastguard Rescue Team blog; the Daily Mail reports it was 120 feet, while the Dorset Echo says it was 30 feet. At any rate, it was a big fall for a small dog.)

Spott’s pet parents immediately notified the Coastguard.

“The patrol searched the area then someone shouted up that they could see Spott at the bottom of the cliff,” Ian Brown, a Coastguard officer, told the Daily Mail. “Amazingly, it turned out that Spott had survived the fall and was alive and well.”

Brown said Spott likely survived by landing in the sea instead of on the rocky shore. Spott even managed to swim to a ledge, where he was found by a recreational climber who had descended the cliff. The climber stayed with the lucky dog and comforted him until help arrived from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

“Spott was a bit shaken and had a few scratches, but otherwise seemed to be okay,” Becky Mack, a crew member on the RNLI lifeboat, told the Dorset Echo.

Spott was taken to the RNLI station in Swanage, where he was reunited with his very relieved pet parents.

“Our little dog Spott fell over a cliff and we thought we had lost him,” they wrote in a thank-you note posted on the Swanage – Coastguard Rescue Team blog yesterday. “We would like to send our heartfelt thanks to the Coastguard who were brilliant and to the RNLI who rescued Spott.”

This near tragedy illustrates just how important it is to keep your dog on a leash, no matter where you’re going for a walk.

“Always keep your dog on a lead while walking on the cliffs, as most dogs, especially smaller ones, cannot see the cliff edge,” the Coastguard advised in May 2014, when a Black Lab named Pippa also miraculously survived a 90-foot plunge off Anvil Point.

Photo via Facebook

Good Cops! Watch Police Officers Rescue Dog from Raging Colombia River

When police officers saw a dog being swept away in Colombia’s Liboriana River earlier this week, they wasted no time in saving his life. Their heroic actions were captured on video.

Torrential rainstorms in the Salgar area resulted in the raging river as well as mudslides that have killed more than 60 people. This is Colombia’s worst disaster of its kind in 10 years, according to news reports.

As the dog was pulled down the river, smashing into rocks and debris, the officers ran alongside him on the rocky river bank, shouting in Spanish, “Jump in, jump in!” When they were finally able to get ahead of him, one of the officers, risking his life, waded into the river and grabbed the unconscious dog. He carried him safely to shore under his arm.

Back on land, the officers gave the dog CPR while one of them gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Thanks to these heroes, the dog gained consciousness and was even able to stand up. The officers carried him to their truck and administered IV fluids.

Although the dog did suffer some injuries, he is expected to make a full recovery.

“The courage and training of our Carabineros helped save a dog who fell into the murky waters,” wrote the Colombia Ministry of Defense on its website. “His life is most important to us, so we did not hesitate to rescue him and bring him to safety.”

The officers have named the lucky dog Principe (Prince). If no one claims him, he will become an honorary K-9 officer.

“Por tu bienestar, nuestra labor. Por una vida TODO,” Policía Nacional de los Colombianos wrote on its Facebook page Wednesday. Loosely translated, that means, “Our work for your well-being. For ALL lives.”

Photos via YouTube; Facebook

Dachshund Rescued after Spending 13 Days under Concrete Slab

“It really is a miracle that God gave me back Lucy right before her birthday, and if she could talk, we’d be able to write a book about it,” Rebecca Felix, the 4-year-old miniature Dachshund’s dog mom, told the Wichita Eagle today.

Earlier this month, Felix left her home in Derby, Kansas, to take care of an ill family member. Her husband stayed at home with Lucy and Thor, their Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua mix.

When her husband came home from work April 3, Lucy was nowhere to be found. There were no holes under the fence through which Lucy could have escaped.

“I was devastated,” Felix told the Wichita Eagle. “Our assumption was that she got out, but we couldn’t find anywhere where she could have gotten out.”

For 10 days, the couple circled their yard, calling Lucy’s name but getting no response. Then Thor began leading them to the air-conditioning unit on the side of the house. The couple couldn’t figure out why.

Three days later, they heard a soft bark coming from under the concrete slab supporting the unit. When Felix’s husband played a dog-whistle app on his phone, they heard another weak bark.

Digging under the slab, Felix’s husband was able to see Lucy’s nose. She opened her eyes when he called her name.

The Dachshund had dug under the house, and then had somehow managed to dig a 4-foot tunnel before she became stuck under the concrete slab.

Firefighters and police officers soon arrived and were able to pull Lucy out. Veterinarians at a local animal emergency hospital said she was dehydrated and starved, and had severe corneal ulceration due to all the dirt that had been in her eyes. She was fed chicken and rice, which she ate “ravenously,” according to the Wichita Eagle.

Lucy is recovering and being treated by vets at Rainbow Valley Veterinary Clinic. “We can’t believe there was no organ failure,” Dr. Kelly Miller told the Wichita Eagle. “Fourteen days without water, you expect the kidneys to have not survived through that. She somehow managed to make it. It’s amazing.”

Felix agrees. “It had to be divine intervention,” she told the Wichita Eagle.

Photo via Twitter