- Prepare to meet a whole bunch of good girls and boys.
The comfort of an animal companion can help you get through some hard times. Many pet owners can justifiably say their pets have saved their lives.
Some, though, can claim that very literally.
With their sharper senses, animals can more easily spot something’s wrong. They might warn us of an impending danger, or even detect an otherwise unnoticed disease.
Here are seven times animals, both pets and wild ones, saved people — in their own unconventional ways.
1. Elephant Baywatch
In this first story, nobody actually needed rescuing. Yet, the baby elephant Kham La showed in 2016 that she’s ready to act when the need arises.
The year before, conservationist Darrick Thomson of the Save Elephant Foundation had helped transfer Kham La and her mother to an elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Kham La had taken a real shine to Thomson and would follow him around, walking with her trunk around his arm.
One day, Thomson was swimming in a nearby river and began calling Kham La to join him. The elephant rushed over — but not to swim.
She had interpreted Thomson’s yells as cries for help. She wouldn’t go away until Thomson had grabbed her trunk so that she could drag him out of the river to dry ground.
They say elephants never forget, and it seems Kham La definitely remembers the help she’s gotten from Thomson.
2. Parrot House Alarm
In 2019, a serial burglar later identified as Jack Fletcher was terrorizing the town on Monmouth in southern Wales. He had already broken into three houses and, on the night of June 20, he committed his fourth crime.
This time, however, the house alarm went off. But this alarm was no electric gadget.
Instead, it was a Gray African parrot called Charlie. The burglar spooked him so bad that he started squawking in terror, waking up her owner Emma Dazeley.
Fletcher tried escaping, but Dazeley pursued him in a wild chase that eventually led to his arrest. Sadly, Charlie later managed to escape from his home, and we couldn’t find out if he ever came back.
3. Dolphin Bodyguards
Dolphins are complex creatures. They can be very intelligent, maliciously sadistic, and prone to depression — yet they also have a protective streak.
In 2004, a dolphin pod suddenly surrounded a group of swimmers at a beach in New Zealand. The tourists initially thought the dolphins wanted to play, but things soon took a serious turn.
The dolphins surrounded the humans and wouldn’t let them leave. At the same time, they began splashing the water with their tails.
The swimmers initially though the dolphins were being aggressive. But then they noticed the 10-foot-long great white shark that the dolphins were attempting to keep at bay.
After the shark left, the dolphins released their human captives and swam off. Dolphins will form these types of protective circles to safeguard their young, but it remains a mystery why they decided to protect an entirely different species.
4. Cat-bon Monoxide Detector
In 2017, Annette and Kevin Shanahan of Reedsburg, Wicsonson, were feeling a bit off all through the evening. They figured they just needed some rest, and so they went to bed early.
Around 1 a.m., Annette woke up, feeling even worse. When she tried to get up, her legs gave and she fell unconscious onto a chair.
At that point, the Shanahans’ tabby cat, Gracie, started banging and pounding on their bedroom door. That roused Kevin, who found Gracie’s behavior unusual, since she doesn’t generally want to come into the bedroom.
As he got up, he found his collapsed wife laying unresponsive. Realizing something was terribly wrong, he called 911 and dragged his wife and cat out of the house.
It’s a good thing he did, too, because a failing water heater had filled the place with carbon monoxide. Without Gracie, the Shanahans would’ve likely died that night.
5. Tsunami Warning Pup
On March 11, 2011, a powerful earthquake struck the down of Miyako, Japan. That didn’t really shake Tami Akanuma, who had seen plenty of quakes over her 86-year-long life.
Babu, her 11-year-old Shih Tzu, however, was beside herself. The dog kept pacing around restlessly and indicating that she wanted to go for a walk — well before her usual walkies time.
Akanuma obliged and took her elderly puppy outside. Even then, Babu kept behaving strangely, dragging her owner up a nearby hill where she usually didn’t want to go.
Just minutes after they reached the top of the hill, a tsunami stirred by the earlier earthquake wiped Akanuma’s neighborhood off the face of the earth. Yet, the two old ladies survived without a scratch, thanks to Babu’s insistence.
6. Dr. Bunny
The year was 2004 and the place was Cambridgshire, England. Simon Steggall was lying on the couch, and his wife assumed he was napping.
But Dory, the couple’s 21-pound giant bunny, realized something was terribly wrong. She jumped up on the couch, climbed on Mr. Steggall’s chest, and began thumping on it as if she were trying to give him CPR.
That caught Mrs. Steggall’s curiosity and she came to check what the rabbit was doing. It turned out that Dory was desperately trying to rouse her owner, who had slipped into a diabetic coma.
Mrs. Steggall called the emergency number, and quick action by paramedics saved her husband’s life. For her efforts, the British Rabbit Welfare Association named Dory their first-ever honorary animal member.
7. Canine War Hero
In July 1917, members of the 102nd Infantry Regiment were training on the grounds of the Yale University in Connecticut before getting shipped off to Europe to fight in World War I. James Controy, a private at the time, spotted a stray bull terrier mutt roaming the grounds and together with his unit, adopted the dog, naming it Stubby.
When it came time to go to war, Conroy smuggled Stubby to the front with him. That turned out to be a decision that saved both Conroy’s and many others’ lives.
After surviving a mustard gas attack, Stubby learned to recognize the horrible chemical’s stench long before any human soldier could. His frantic barking would alert the 102nd to pull on their gas masks — and to make sure Stubby was also donning his custom-made one.
In addition to warning about gas, Stubby excelled in finding wounded soldiers in No Man’s Land and hearing approaching artillery shells. Despite being wounded twice, Stubby served in 17 battles.
Stubby and Conroy both came home alive from the front. By the time the war was over, Sergeant Stubby outranked his owner, who was a Corporal.
Over the rest of his life, the war hero dog met three presidents and received a unique award from Gen. John Pershing, the commander of the U.S. Expeditionary Force. He finally passed away in 1926 as a decorated war hero.