9 Animals That Saved Human Lives

We have spoken about how dangerous some animals can be and even made a top 10 Deceptively Dangerous Animals, but what about animals that are the opposite? This list is about 10 animals that are true heroes, saving the lives of humans from animals and humankind alike. Some of these are better known than others however we will see some examples of life saving efforts from animals you probably didn’t expect…

Fireman Cat

Fireman Cat

Oreo the cat (not pictured above) saved a family of seven from a house fire that could have killed them all. Dianne Busscher (Oreo’s owner) admits that none of the family were particularity found of Oreo until the incident that saved their lives. Dianne explains that she was awoken by Oreo making noise in the family garage at around 4:45am. After going down to investigate what was wrong with Oreo Dianne realized Oreo have discovered a fire which went on to reduce the garage and one of the bedrooms to ashes. Thanks to Oreo no-one was harmed.

Lifeguard Dog

Lifeguard Dog

Unlike the trained lifeguard dog above, Brenda Owens heroic dog Penny is a real life saver going beyond the call of pet-duty. Brenda was taking 10 year old Penny on a routine walk when she spotted an empty wheelchair by the riverside. Brenda approached the curious wheelchair and looked down the bank only to spot a woman fighting for her life in the river, Brenda immediately told Penny “Fetch!” and heroic Penny dived into the river and dragged the woman to safety.

Dolphin VS Shark

Dolphin

Its certainly not uncommon to hear about dolphins saving the life of a human and this instance is just one of a number of reports where a dolphin have saved a surfer from being a sharks main course. Todd Edris was out surfing one day with a group of friends when a massive 15 foot shark appeared and attacked Todd. The shark managed to bite Todd and actually pin him to his surfboard but let go as it couldn’t get a proper hold on him. Bearing round on Todd again for the kill, Todd managed to hit the shark repeatably but was losing blood and energy fast from his wounds, it was at this point a pod of dolphins showed up and protected Todd long enough to get back to shore.

Watusi Bodyguard

Watusi

This is an interesting account from Janice Wolf whose life may well have been saved by on of her Watusi Calves. Janice owns a refuge in Arkansas and as normal was out on the fields tending to her cattle. As she was walking along the trail one of her calves abruptly moved in her path blocking her route, Janice wasn’t sure what the calf was trying to achieve so she tried to move the calf by its horns only to be knocked back by the calf. At this point Janice realized the calf had stepped in between her and a copperhead snake – the snake was right where she would have stood if not for the calf. Even through the venom of the copperhead may not kill an adult Janice was sensitive to venom so if may well have killed her.

Dolphin Lifeguard

Dolphin

Here we have another instance of a Dolphin saving a human life however the difference here is not that the Dolphin saved a human from a known threat like a shark but instead recognized that the human (Davide Ceci) could not swim and was in fact going to drown. Davide was out on a boat with his father off the coast of Italy when he fell overboard. Davide did not know how to swim and his father hadn’t realized Davide had fallen overboard, it was only “Flippo” a local dolphin that was seen as a tourist attraction who noticed Davide and proceeded to push Davide back onto the side of the boat where his father could grab him.

Dog VS Snake

Dog VS Snake

Texas, 1982 – An heroic family dog ‘Arf’ saved a toddler from a deadly 24 inch coral snake. The grandmother of the 2 year old child (who was playing in the garden) noticed that Arf was becoming extremely agitated and worried for her grandsons safety. After taking the child  inside Mrs. Sparks went to see what the fuss was with Arf only to find Arf locked in mortal combat with a deadly coral snake! Mrs. Sparks was able to shoot and kill the snake but Arf was admitted to a veterinary hospital with numerous snake bites.

Pit Bull Hero

Pit Bull Hero

Pit Bulls get a lot of bad press but in a turn of events back in 2008 a young mother and her son found themselves saved by an anonymous pit bull. The young mother and her son were coming home from the local playground when they were approached by a man brandishing a knife who told them not to try anything. At this moment, seeming out of nowhere a pit bull charged the man who in turn fled, possibly saving both of their lives. The mother and son never saw the pit bull again.

Surrogate Gorilla

Surrogate Gorilla

Brookfield Zoo, August 16th, 1996. A 3 year old boy fell into the Gorilla enclosure and lost consciousness as he hit the ground. This was a very dangerous situation as male gorillas have been known to kill the young of other gorillas and also humans. Luckily for the boy one of the female gorillas took him under her wing and nursed him all the while keeping the other gorillas away from him before hand the child over to staff at the entrance to the enclosure. The surrogate mother-gorillas motherly instincts saved his life.

Dolphin Guardians

Dolphin

For our last entry we return once again to everyone’s favorite sea mammal, the dolphin. This incredible story takes place of off the coast of New Zealand where Rob Howes was swimming with his young daughter and two of her friends. Suddenly a group of dolphins showed up and started herding the four of them together, at this point Rob tried to break away but was forced back into the middle, right then he realized why – there was a massive shark right next to them! The group of dolphins kept a ring around the four of them while keeping the shark at bay for a full 45 minutes before the shark finally lost interest and the dolphins escorted Rob and the others back to shore.

As i said at the start of the list everyone has heard one story or another about dolphins being life savers which just goes to show how intelligent they really are. As well as dolphins this list shows a side to animals that some people truly don’t appreciate. If nothing else convinces you then this list should show you just how important the animals of our planet are and that they aren’t just dumb animals!