Last time on the LazyPaw Animal Hospitals blog, we commended some incredible animals for their heroic acts. From a talking parrot who saved a choking child to a cat who alerted her sleeping family of a carbon monoxide leak just in time, we checked out some incredible stories. Today, we’re taking a closer look at a few commendable people who have helped rescue animals.
Sochi Olympian saves litter of pups.
Olympic silver medalist and pro skier Gus Kensworthy was in Sochi to compete when he noticed a litter of puppies near the media center of Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. “I definitely wasn’t planning on trying to come here and be some animal activist or spokesperson for humanity or the dogs… This particular family just touched me,” said Kensworthy. The athlete heard authorities were rounding up strays and exterminating them to keep the animals out of public view, and he took the dogs in. Kensworthy postponed his trip back to America to wait for paperwork for the canine family’s formal adoption.
Saskatchewan men save fox from flood.
Colin Graham had been keeping an eye on a family of foxes living on his land all spring in Welwyn, east of Regina in Canada. As waters gradually rose to cover the field the foxes called home, Graham kept an eye out for the critters, who had taken to gathering on a rock pile. When the water was about eight feet high, Graham and a friend went to check on the foxes and saw just one trapped on the single stone that still peeked out from the pile. The two swam about 75 meters and caught the fox, who was no bigger than a kitten. They took him home and got him warm and dry. When they saw the mother prowling near the house, they let the young fox go. “They’re reunited,” said Graham. “I saw them running around the other day.”
“Did you get my dogs out?”
After a man escaped a Detroit house fire, he asked one more favor of the firefighters who came to help: “Did you get my dogs out?” The firefighters plucked not one but two animals from the smoking building, then gave both dogs oxygen until they were revived. Tails were soon wagging and the dogs started walking it off and checking out the fire truck. The scene was captured on film in the documentary “BURN: One Year on the Front Lines of the Battle to Save Detroit,” which was directed by Brenna Sanchez and Tom Putnam and executive produced by Denis Leary (“Rescue Me”).
If you’re inspired by these stories, you can be a hero, too. Plenty of local shelter animals need your help, from volunteering to fundraising. Best of all, you could go as far as adopting a new friend into your family. If you’re not sure what kind of animal might be the right fit for your lifestyle, give us a buzz at LazyPaw Animal Hospitals.