You probably have a couple of animals in mind when we say ‘heroic pets’ to you. Lassie, Skippy, Black Beauty and maybe even White Fang if you’re from that generation. They’re all animals with an uncanny ability to communicate with humans, thus able to let ‘Old Man Tom’ know when some hapless child has fallen to the bottom of his structurally unsafe well again.
Well, we doubt that the animal actors behind the heroes could really save any lives, but there are a few plucky pets out there who really deserve the praise for showing limitless bravery in the face of adversity. Take Trackr for instance, the German Shepherd responsible for finding the last survivor of the tragic events of 9/11. He was so successful during his time as a rescue dog that he was even cloned not once, not twice, not three times, but a staggering four times.
Then there is the miraculous story of a dog that appeared from nowhere to save the life of a man risking being gorged to death by a bull in Spain! The man in question had just about given up on his life when the pup raced onto the scene and launched itself at the bull to free its victim and even continued to attack even after the man had scrambled free. Thanks to the dog, the man escaped relatively unharmed.
It’s not just dogs that are capable of being heroic, either! Winnie the cat is responsible for saving the life of her family when a gasoline powered water pump was leaking an odourless gas into the house. Their 14 year old son lay unconscious next door while Winnie pawed, nudged and wailed at her owners to wake them up. If it hadn’t been for Winnie sensing something was wrong, they would never have survived.
One of the most heart-warming stories of an heroic pet is all about Lulu, a pot-bellied pig that tried desperately to raise the alarm when her owner’s mother was taking care of her and suffered a massive heart attack. Not-so-little Lulu ran into the street and spread herself out in the middle of the road to stop oncoming traffic, returning to the house every so often to check on JoAnn until she finally got someone’s attention. They followed Lulu to the door and discovered JoAnn unconscious. If it hadn’t been for her, JoAnn would surely have died.
It just goes to show how invaluable our animals really are. They’re more than just our companions, they’re our friends and in some instances, our rescuers!
