Few things bring out the heroic side of us like seeing a helpless animal in danger.
Although we’re often hardwired to worry about our own safety first, sometimes those
biological drives get thrown on the back burner when there’s an innocent creature to be saved,
especially if it’s our pet.
Today, let’s take a look at seven amazing times animals were rescued from peril
by their courageous owners.
Taking the heat
Back in 2019, Jose Guzman was attending a barbeque at his parents’ home in Pala, California
with his fiancée and their three daughters.
His young family had just moved into their house close by two months prior, and when
he was told there was a fire in his neighborhood, he left the family gathering to go see if
everything was okay at home.
Unfortunately, a massive fire had started in his neighbor’s home and spread to his,
and though Guzman’s family was clear of the blaze, their two-year-old blue nose pitbull,
Gabanna, was not.
Even though firefighters were on the scene, they had run out of water and were calling
on other fire stations to come and assist them.
Unwilling to wait any longer and compromise Gabanna’s safety, Guzman leaped into the
flames to rescue his pup.
Luckily, it didn’t take Guzman long to locate her in the home, and he found Gabanna
curled up under the toilet in the bathroom—the only room in the house that wasn’t on fire.
Guzman escaped with second-degree burns to his face, arm, left ear, and right side of
his body while Gabanna suffered minor burns to her nose and paw.
Both are incredibly lucky to be alive, since the fire was ferocious, destroying all of
the Guzman family’s belongings, home, and two cars.
An onlooker was amazed stating, “I thought he was a goner.
Those flames were hot and I couldn’t imagine running through those.”
The Guzmans and Gabanna are all safe and sound, despite the material losses, and thankfully
were able to raise over $77,000 on their GoFundMe Page to aid them in replacing what was lost.
Even though Guzman could have lost his life, and it’s probably not a wise decision to
jump into a wall of fire, I think it’s safe to say we’re all glad to see both Gabanna
and her owner are okay.
A Miniature Miracle
We can often be on autopilot, especially while we’re commuting.
However, lucky for one teensy orange kitten in Oklahoma, one woman was very observant
during her journey to work that day.
While waiting at a stoplight in 2015, motorcyclist and YouTube user SkidTube noticed that a kitten
had fallen out of a passing red car going the opposite direction.
‘Stop, stop, stop!’
Only after dismounting, scooping the tiny animal up, and delivering him to the safety
of an onlooker, did she then remove her bike and more importantly herself, from danger.
Luckily for the kitten, his rescuer was also happy to take him in.
After calling her job to say she’d be late, the woman contacted her husband.
He brought a proper carrier for the kitten so she could keep an eye on him at work before
taking him to the veterinarian.
Although no previous owner for the kitten came forward, SkidTube was grateful, stating
“I’m hesitant to release him back…without seeing how this kitten is living.
I don’t think I could live with myself if I gave this cat back to people who let it
end up in the road, in the middle of the busiest road in town.”
She ended up adopting him permanently and christened the little guy “Skidmark.”
He’s grown into a very spunky and rambunctious cat and is still living with his mom and
little sister named Rotini.
Sometimes life’s little gifts come to us in the strangest moments, if we’re ready for them.
As SkidTube says, “I think it would be very hard to give away a cat that came into your
life like this!”
‘Oh you poor thing’
A race against the clock
Sometimes, a completely unexpected turn of events can shift the mood from lighthearted
and fun to a horrible race against time.
In February of 2021, Jennie Tatum of Murfreesboro, Tennessee let her two dogs, Olaf and Sid out
to frolic in the snow.
Instead of turning around and letting them have some playtime, she luckily followed close
behind, hoping to capture some adorable moments with her phone’s camera.
To Tatum’s horror, her fifty-pound five-year-old pit bull mix, Sid, slipped and fell into her
semi-frozen pool.
Immediately throwing her phone to the side, Tatum started by digging in the pool with
her arms and eventually escalated to fully immersing herself in the icy water in a quest
to find her pup before it was too late.
Tatum said of Sid the dog, “He’s never been in the pool…he doesn’t like the water,”
adding that her actions were driven by adrenaline with little thought behind them.
“I never thought about my hands getting cut when I was chopping the ice, I didn’t
think about jumping in the water and me getting hypothermia.”
Although she was initially unable to find Sid in the pool, since he had gone into shock
and sunk to the bottom, Tatum was finally able to spot him beneath the ice.
Without knowing whether or not Sid was alive, Tatum rushed him back inside her house where
she discovered he was limp, and his mouth was blue.
Since none of the veterinary clinics near her home were open thanks to the snow, Tatum
was forced to drive a grueling thirty minutes to get Sid the help he needed.
Once in an oxygen room at the vet, Sid massively improved, and despite being treated for pneumonia,
was able to return home.
Tatum is so grateful that Sid is alive and well.
He has been her son’s best friend since her family rescued him off the street
five years ago.
The vets were impressed with Tatum’s quick actions and noted that if Sid had been underwater
for even a few seconds more, it would have been a matter of life and death.
Prying open the jaws of death
When in Florida, it’s best to avoid the alligators, but in this case, we get to see
the stunning heroism that one 74-year-old Florida man demonstrated when his puppy’s
life was threatened by one.
Richard Wilbanks of Estero, Florida, was walking around the retention pond near his property
when his three-month-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Gunner, was snatched by an alligator
that had emerged from the water.
It all seemed to unravel rather quickly from there.
As Wilbanks says, “it came out of the water like a missile, I never thought an alligator
could be that fast.”
Wilbanks followed just as rapidly, diving after the gator into the pond without so much
as a second thought.
…his cigar still trapped tightly between his lips.
The amazing rescue was filmed on cameras set up to document wild animals in the area.
Though Wilbanks says grabbing the small gator was easy enough, it was prying the reptile’s
jaws open that took some work.
Wilbanks’ hands were cut up by the alligator’s teeth during the tussle, and he subsequently
needed a tetanus shot.
Thankfully, little Gunner was largely unharmed, only suffering a minor puncture wound on his
stomach, and Wilbanks, recognizing that alligators come with the territory in Florida, does not
want the animal removed from the pond or harmed in any way.
In his words, “they’re a part of nature and our lives.”
Wilbanks still takes Gunner out near his property, but he keeps him on a leash and gives the
pond a wide berth.
A team effort
Most of our clips up to this point have featured lone individuals facing off various dangers
to save smaller animals, but not this one.
In Bashkortostan, Russia during the winter of 2020, farmer Sagitzian Idiyatullin posted
a video to his social media, highlighting the perils of farm life in the dead of winter.
Apparently, it is typical for Idiyatullin’s horses to walk out onto the ice during the
winter season, since it is usually five feet thick, but in this case, the ice was far thinner
than the humans or the horses anticipated.
Seven of Idiyatullin’s horses had fallen through the ice of the frozen pond, and though
able to keep their heads above the water, certainly needed some help to escape the frigid
trap they found themselves in.
Acting quickly, Idiyatullin brought his tractor and lifting jib to the scene and with the
help of several other men, the horses were saved from the pond one by one.
Even though the horses, which are the small but hearty Bashkir breed, are used to staying
outside in harsh Russian winters, the combination of the cold water and their own panic at being
submerged would have certainly proved deadly, if the men had not moved fast.
The horses were already in the water for a detrimental amount of time.
Thankfully, all seven of the horses lived, and Idiyatullin blames the unstable weather
on the incident.
Several areas of Russia, Bashkortostan being one of them, have recently seen remarkable
milder winters, which leads to thinner ice build-up.
This incredible rescue is an inspirational display of teamwork and determination.
Out of Nowhere
Although it’s hard and somewhat terrifying for us to process, danger can be lurking around
any corner at any time.
For one nine-week-old puppy named Jasper, one day, danger was just under the bushes
in his backyard.
In Queensland, Australia during November of 2020, Michelle van Schouwen and her teenage
daughter, Mikayla let their little puppy out in the backyard to sniff and enjoy the sunshine.
As Jasper was minding his business, in the blink of an eye, a deadly carpet python lunged
out from under a nearby bush, biting the puppy’s ear and wrapping itself around his tiny body.
Michelle and her daughter were alerted to the danger by Jasper’s yelps for help.
Racing out into the backyard, Michelle snatched up a cardboard tube from a roll of wrapping
paper, hoping to bat the python off their pet.
Michelle notes, “I hoped I could use it to get the python to release him because I
initially wasn’t keen on approaching barehanded,”.
However, she soon realized the snake had no intention of letting Jasper go, and seized
the animal with her bare hands, hoping to shake it off of the puppy.
Realizing the python was nonvenomous, Michelle turned all of her attention to getting the
snake off of her dog since the situation was a great deal more deadly for Jasper, than
it was for either her or her daughter.
When the pair go out of the camera's view, shadows on the grass show the girls shaking
the snake, which finally releases its deadly grip, and Jasper runs free.
Little Jasper survived with minimal injuries, and both rescuers were unharmed.
Michelle said, “The attack on Jasper has heightened our awareness of the abilities
of the carpet python and now our children understand why we keep our screen doors closed
so we aren’t inviting them into our house!”
It’s a good thing the van Schouwens were so close by when the attack occurred, or the
outcome could have been very different and far sadder.
Sizing up the competition
Usually, when you find yourself ready for a fistfight, the opponent facing off with
you is another angry human.
However, when 36-year-old Australian Greig Tonkins saw his dog was in danger, he found
himself squaring up with a very different species of foe.
Back in 2016, while out hunting wild pigs with his friends and dogs in Condobolin, New
South Wales, Australia, Tonkins realized that a six-and-a-half-foot-tall kangaroo had his
cherished hunting dog, Max, in a headlock.
As the man and the kangaroo size each other up, Tonkins decides to punch the animal, landing
a right jab to its face.
The shocked kangaroo processes what had just happened while Tonkins backs away.
Max the dog was unharmed in the scuffle, as was Tonkins and his shocked sparring partner.
Though Tonkins received quite a bit of online hate in the years that followed, since many
animal activists thought his punching was unwarranted, Tonkins claims he has no problem
with kangaroos.
He works with the elephants at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, New South Wales,
Australia, and is a self-professed animal lover.
“They love me…and I love them,” Tonkins captioned a recent photo of himself lying
down among three kangaroos.
We guess the lesson here is that you probably shouldn’t threaten Max the dog, or you might
catch a right hook from his owner.
Which brave rescue put the biggest smile on your face?
Have you ever saved an animal yourself, or witnessed a daring rescue?
We’d love to hear your story in the comments below.
As always, thanks for watching.