A pit bull in Georgia has been honored by the Humane Society of the US for saving the life of one of his guardians and then coming to her aid later again.
Last July, Gloria Benton suffered an suffered an aneurysm, fell and fractured her skull – as reported by My Fox Atlanta. Titan alerted her husband that something was wrong, as he was headed out the door to go to work.
He came to Gloria’s rescue again when she broke her hip several weeks ago.
Lilly the hero pit bull is back at home: Lilly, the dog who pulled her collapsed guardian off a train track earlier this month in Massachusetts, is back home and recovering from her injuries.
And it is important to note that Lilly is a dog rescued from a local shelter. This offers another piece of the ever-growing mountain of evidence that rescued dogs are the greatest ‘breed’ of dog on the planet.
Petside.com reports – “” Her front right leg was amputated and she went through surgery to fix her pelvis and a badly injured left hind leg. The doctors implanted steel plates to repair Lilly’s fractured pelvis and support her left leg. “”
America soldier reunited with Afghan dog he rescued: A U.S. staff sergeant serving in Afghanistan rescued a dog from a fighting ring and has now been reunited with Bodhi back in the United States.
And the New York Daily News also reports this bit of very positive news:
“” A spokeswoman for The Puppy Rescue Mission, a nonprofit dedicated to helping soldiers save puppies from war zones, said that more and more soldiers have called for their help in bringing home man’s best friend.
She said the group has rescued 300 dogs since the mission began in April of 2010, and gets around three to five requests per week. “”
I just found two great stories that once again reaffirm our connection with our animals.
The winner of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles’ 30th National Hero Dog Award has been announced and it’s Bear, a 100-pound Shiloh German shepherd rescued from a Texas animal shelter three years ago.
Bear’s guardian had a seizure last May and lost consciousness when she fell hit her head. The Associated Press reports Bear raced from house to house, scratching on doors for help. A county animal control officer saw him and followed him to home.
The dog then jumped into the ambulance to accompany his guardian to the hospital.
And a woman in Massachusetts saved her 9-year-old golden retriever from a bear attack, using a toy sword. She waved the toy at the bear and banged it on a stone wall and screamed until bear had enough, stopped its attack on her dog left the yard.
That’s some kind of brave stuff there.
I recently got into a back-and-forth about greyhound racing under a Huffington Post blog entry. A couple of folks on the pro-racing side talked about the dogs as “athletes” and about how much they are worth in monetary terms. And they claimed the dogs love racing.
I came out of the discussion thinking about how far behind these people are when it comes to understanding animal welfare, animal behavior and cognition. One side of the animal-welfare debate is pushing compassion for animals and pushing for better laws to protect animals from cruelty. The other side is fighting all of that and considers an animal to be nothing more than a physical possession.
The science is in, however. The research and study needs to go on, but the conclusion has been reached. Animals – most notably what we might call the higher-order animals – have self-awareness and a state of consciousness. A recent story out of Massachusetts piles more information on the ever-growing mound of proof that these theories have now advanced deep into the category of FACT.
And this story heaps more evidence into the research:
This pit bull – yes pit bull – pulled his unconscious guardian off a train track and saved her life. Lilly risked her own life and suffered severe injuries. After her leg has been amputated, Lilly is expected to recover.
As reported by My Fox Boston, the train engineer witnessed Lilly pulling Christine Spain off the track, but despite all of his efforts to stop the train in time, he could not avoid hitting the dog.
This is not instinctive behavior on Lilly’s part. What she did took a higher-order thought process, to recognize a danger and act on it to save another being from harm. How can we – as an advanced society – not advance our legal system to offer for animals better protection from cruelty?
How can we allow horse slaughter, knowing they have an advanced level of consciousness? How is it that particular entities in 2012 are fighting against stronger anti-puppy mill laws? How is it that certain entities are trying to hide from public view the cruelty that takes place on too many factory farms?
These people and entities fighting against animal welfare are not only on the wrong side of history, they are on the wrong side of the galaxy when it comes to compassion and science. I am excited and heartened by the fact that in the case of animal welfare, science and compassion have fully joined forces. The mounting scientific evidence clearly supports the animal-welfare movement and its compassionate message.
Another case of a human saved by a dog:
A woman in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. might owe her life to a cat she adopted just hours prior to suffering a seizure on February 8.
The Green Bay Press Gazette reports Amy Jung adopted a cat from a local shelter and later in the day she suffered what is described as an insulin reaction. Pudding raced in, stood on her chest and then began swatting her face and biting her nose.
Jung finally woke up and called out for her son. When her sleeping son did not respond, Pudding raced into his room to alert him.
The evidence continues to mount. Animals are more than instinctive machines with no feelings or emotion or cognitive abilities. Science and case studies and the facts and logic tell us animals are much more.
It’s time for the non-believers to move into the 21st Century. It’s time for our state and federal legislatures to move our animal-welfare laws into the 21st Century.
Pit bull saves family during house fire: A Chicago pit bull alerted her family in the middle of the night that their house was on fire. The family got out safely and one family member rushed back into the home to save Moo Moo.
Once again, we see an example of the greatness of animals as our companions on Planet Earth. Yet, our society as a whole is still not offering them a level of protection from abuse and neglect that they deserve.
New adoption system helps match people and homeless pets: Emily Weiss, vice president of shelter research and development for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals developed Meet Your Match.
The Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals increased its adoption rate by nearly 20 percent of late, using the system. And the shelter is seeing fewer returns.
People looking for pets at local shelters answer 19 questions that touch on characteristics they are looking for. Dogs are graded on friendliness, playfulness, energy level, motivation and drive.
Guilford County Animal Shelter caring for 129 dogs rescued from NC puppy mill: WFMY News out of Greensboro, NC reports 129 dogs were rescued Tuesday from a puppy mill in Guilford County.
An elderly woman in Glendale, Ariz. is alive and recovering in the hospital thanks to her service dog, who performed multiple tasks in coming to her aid, after she fell in her home and broke her femur.
ABC News reports Bethe Bennett was losing consciousness on the floor when Danny, a miniature schnauzer, began licking her in the face. Bennett then signaled Danny to get the phone for her and he knocked it off a table and pushed it to her with his nose. She called 911 for help.
When she realized the doors to her home were locked, she used the command “paper” to get him to bring her pages that contained neighbors’ phone numbers, so they could unlock the front door with a hidden key.
Danny is able, thankfully, to visit Bennett in the hospital and nap in the bed with her. How great is that?
How many times do we need to read stories such as this before the naysayers drop their claims that animals lack intelligence and don’t deserve added protections in our society?
How much evidence do some people need before they come to the realization that animals do indeed possess self-awareness and abilities beyond so-called instincts? This story alone offers clear evidence that dogs (in this case) are more than instinctive in their thought patterns and problem solving.
Editorial slams adoption groups: A Slate.com editorial that ran Thursday on the website suggests the adoption process through rescue groups can amount to an “inquisition.”
I don’t doubt that some rescue organizations can have detailed adoption application processes that turn some people off. The process varies from group to group. But the fear that homeless dogs and cats might end up back in the wrong hands is the primary reason why applications are part of the system.
A lot of pets find homes through local rescue groups all over the country. It happens every week in thousands (many thousands) of communities across the nation. But I also don’t doubt that on occasion some potentially good homes are blocked out.
So maybe there are some groups that could ease up a bit. But I fully support the system. So many homeless pets have already lived a rough life. We need to insure as best we can that their next family is a good one.
Endangered elephants face more threats from food poachers in Thailand: This story is just disgusting. In Thailand, some people have taken to eating the meat from the trunks and sex organs of elephants. So because they think something is tasty, they are willing to wipe a majestic species off the face of the Earth.
Last year, when a woman in Kansas City, Mo. was being beaten with a hammer by her boyfriend, her Great Dane came to her defense. The dog absorbed several blows after laying across her body. Reports state the boyfriend then threw them both out of a second-story window.
KCTV5.com reports the dog’s injuries included a broken hip, ribs and other broken bones.
The woman later called a local domestic violence shelter, but the initially facility would not allow the dog to stay there. She refused to leave her dog and the shelter made an exception to allow the two of them to stay there.
The Rose Brooks Center is now working on the addition of 25 beds to a pet-friendly wing of the shelter. It is a great decision, because as the article notes, many abused women will not leave an abuses spouse or boyfriend for fear he will harm a pet.
So the Great Dane and the Rose Brooks Center get Pack of Justice and Pack of Compassion awards.