heroes Archives - i Still Love Dogs

Elderly Texas Man and Dog Rescued from Truck after Hurricane Patricia [Video]

After Hurricane Patricia swept across Mexico and became a tropical storm, it brought massive flooding to Texas. The town of Corsicana was especially hard hit — over 18 inches of rain fell overnight Friday, causing a freight train to derail and the need for many people to be rescued from flooded areas, including an elderly man and his dog who were trapped in a pickup truck.

The man and small white dog were trapped for four hours, James Reed, a firefighter with Corsicana Fire Rescue, told the Telegraph.

When three emergency responders from the Texas Task Force and the Corsicana Fire Rescue arrived by a Washington County EMS raft, the level of the swift-moving water had almost reached the top of the truck’s windows.

The rescuers had difficulty spotting the truck in the darkness, but, fortunately, the man saw their flashlights.

In a video taken by Reed, a rescuer first plucks the dog from the truck’s cab. The dog runs excitedly around the raft and looks anxiously at the truck as the rescuer slowly pulls out the elderly man.

As the man sits in the raft, his dog hops into his lap and gives him a big kiss.

The man was taken to a hospital, according to the Telegraph.

If heavy rains should occur where you live, never drive your car on a flooded road. As the National Weather Service warns, “Turn Around, Don’t Drown.”

Hooray for these heroes!

Photo via YouTube

Off-Roading Heroes Rescue Pit Bull Trapped in Mine Shaft

NOV. 26, 2015 UPDATE: Happy news — After receiving an award on “The All-Star Dog Rescue Celebration” tonight for his heroic act, Michael Schoepf announced he is now Corona’s official dog dad.

After Michael Schoepf and some friends left a bonfire to go off-roading Friday night in Corona, Calif., they came across a mine shaft “in the middle of nowhere,” Schoepf told CBS Los Angeles.

While a bonfire in severely dry Southern California seems like a pretty bad idea, it was definitely a great idea for the off-roaders to stop when they came across the abandoned, 75-foot-deep shaft. Using a flashlight, they peered down into it. Imagine their surprise — looking back up at them was a 1-year-old Pit Bull.

“We felt instantly we can’t leave here, we have to get this dog out of here,” Schoepf told ABC7.

Schoepf and Galdden returned to the bonfire to gather up friends and rescue tools.

They all returned to the mine shaft to save the life of the dog they named Corona. With a harness, ropes and the help of his friends, Schoepf was lowered into the shaft.

“I put Corona here on my shoulders,” he told ABC7. “When I got there, she held on for dear life and we climbed back up.”

He said Corona is “wonderful, she’s an amazing, amazing dog. So obedient.”

It’s a mystery as to how she ended up in the mine shaft and how long she was in it. “There’s no way she could have made it all the way down there on her own,” Nickolas Galdden, one of the rescuers, told ABC7. “At some point she had to have fallen.”

Schoepf took Corona home and slept beside her. The next morning, he took her to Happy Tails Animal Hospital in Garden Grove to have her checked out by a veterinarian.

It could have been much worse, but Corona only suffered an eye injury, possibly when she fell down the shaft, as well as some scratches, but no broken bones, Dr. Keri Berka told ABC7. She performed the examination free of charge because Schoepf and his friends had done “the right thing” by saving Corona’s life.

Corona had a microchip, but the information was not current. (A good reminder to make sure your own dog’s microchip information is up to date.)

If her pet parents can’t be found, Schoepf will consider adopting her.

“She gets a second chance,” he told CBS Los Angeles. “She’s very well deserving of it.”

Photo via Twitter

Mystery Hero Saves Dog from Tennessee House Fire [Video]

UPDATE: The hero is no longer a mystery! It was dog lover Tim Tawater, a 20-year veteran of the Nashville Fire Department, who rescued Sampson, a young, 82-pound Bouvier.

“I’ve had dogs ever since I was born,” Tawater told WSMV this afternoon. “You got to figure that if there’s a dog in the house, the dog is definitely family.”

The homeowners, Brandon and April Gorley, got a call about the fire as they were starting a vacation in Gulf Shores. They immediately returned home. A relative who had been housesitting was out running an errand when the fire broke out.

The Gorleys met Tawater this afternoon. “He didn’t have to go into a house that was on fire,” Brandon told WSMV. “Deeply, deeply appreciate him being there.”

A man driving his gray Mustang down a White House, Tenn., street late Saturday afternoon stopped when he saw people gathered outside a house on fire.

Did he wait with them for help to arrive? Nope.

When he found out there were pets inside, the unidentified hero ran into the burning house and emerged a couple minutes later, carrying a large black dog. About 30 seconds later, the roof of the house collapsed.

Jimmy Nichols, a keyboardist for singers like Reba McIntyre and Faith Hill, captured the rescue on video.

“[He] says, ‘I do this for a living,’” Nichols told WSMV. “The dog was scared to death, but he saved this dog. It was incredible to see.”

The mystery man in the gray Mustang drove off without leaving his name.

“It was so weird — he just took off,” Nichols said.

The dog’s owners were out of town, so he was taken to a friend’s house. Unfortunately, the house was destroyed by the fire, which started in the attic. Three cats are still missing.

Nichols and others in the neighborhood — especially the homeowners, I assume — are hoping the hero comes forward so they can thank him.

“He’s got the love and respect of this whole community,” Nichols told WSMV.

Pit Bull Survives 200-foot Jump Thanks to Emergency Responders

When a woman saw a stray Pit Bull on the Parkway East in Monroeville, Pa., yesterday, she did what most animal lovers would do. She pulled over and tried to coax the dog out of danger and into her car.

But the dog got frightened when the woman approached her and ran — right off a 200-foot-high overpass.

The distraught woman flagged down a Woodland Hills EMS (WHEMS) truck.

“We were looking at the distance the dog fell and pretty much thought we were looking at a bad case,” WHEMS Director Frank Mastandrea told CBS Pittsburgh. “But when we got there she was just lying there, whimpering.”

Miraculously, the Pit Bull had survived the fall, but was in bad shape. The WHEMS crew rushed her to the closest animal hospital and paid $720 out of their own pockets for her initial emergency treatment.

The dog, whom the crew named Ophelia, had several broken bones, an injured lung and internal bleeding. A veterinarian estimated the total cost of her care would be more than $8,000, WTAE reported.

Ophelia was wearing a pink collar but had no microchip. The vet said she could stay at the hospital while they tried to find her owner, but the WHEMS crew didn’t want to waste time waiting. They took her to another hospital, Pittsburgh Veterinary Speciality & Emergency Center (PVSEC), where Ophelia was immediately designated a special case.

“Ophelia will remain with the critical care service for the next several days as her life-threatening injuries heal,” Dr. Christine Guenther of PVSEC told WTAE. “She has a lot of injuries and a tough road ahead of her, and we appreciate the outpouring of love and support for her.”

Once Ophelia’s condition stabilizes, she will need surgery on both her front legs.

To help cover the costs, the WHEMS crew created the GoFundMe.com campaign, “Save Ophelia.” In just one day, the campaign surpassed its $10,000 goal. The WHEMS crew said any of the funds that are not used will be donated to an animal shelter.

Ophelia has “a tough road ahead of her, and we appreciate the outpouring of love and support for her,” Dr. Guenther told WTAE.

If Ophelia’s owner doesn’t come forward, members of the WHEMS crew have expressed interest in adopting her.

“When you look into those big, brown eyes of hers and she just looked so sad. The crew just fell in love with her,” crew member Angie Fry, Ophelia’s potential future dog mom, told CBS Pittsburgh.

“We help people, but it’s great when we get an opportunity to help an animal as well.”

Photos via GoFundMe.com

Indianapolis Firefighters Free Stray Dog Stuck in Tire Rim

JULY 18, 2015 UPDATE: Happy news! Jessica Arnold, the woman who had been feeding Jimma and took her to the fire station, has become the former stray’s official dog mom. “Jimma will become a part of her family permanently,” the Indianapolis Fire Dept. wrote in a comment on its Facebook page today.

Jimma, a stray 1-year-old Pit Bull mix familiar to residents of an Indianapolis neighborhood, somehow got into a sticky situation today.

An unidentified woman who regularly feeds Jimma found her this afternoon with her head stuck in the rim of a tire that had been on a neighbor’s property. So the woman put Jimma in her car and drove her to the closest fire station.

“The dog who appeared to be stable was visibly shaken but not confrontational,” the Indianapolis Fire Dept. wrote on its Facebook page late this afternoon.

Using liquid soap and then oil, the firefighters spent 10 minutes trying to slide the rim off Jimma’s head, but the tire wouldn’t budge. They phoned another crew and requested extrication tools.

Removing the tire and rim would require large, loud tools, and the crews didn’t want to frighten or injure Jimma in the process.

They figured out a plan. The first step was to remove the tire.

“Several small tools normally used in vehicle extrication were used but ineffective due to the proximity of the dog’s head, noise, vibration and the rim material,” the fire department wrote.

As firefighters worked to remove the tire, others soothed Jimma by gently patting her and speaking to her calmly.

“Several times throughout the process, the dog turned skittish and firefighters had to allow the dog a minute to calm down before continuing,” the fire department wrote.

At last, over an hour later, the firefighters were able to cut through the rim using a tool normally used to cut brake pedals in cars. They then used spreaders to create a wider opening.

According to the Indianapolis Fire Dept., Jimma’s airway was never compromised and she appeared to be okay after her ordeal.

“A very happy Jimma was sent home with the resident,” the fire department wrote.

Here’s hoping the resident becomes Jimma’s permanent dog mom, or one of those hero firefighters adopts her, or Jimma’s story goes viral and she finds a forever home soon.

Photos via Facebook