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.
