An email that came in from Dan Gomez.
(And Happy Birthday to Dan.)
It had a collection of these images.
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These are fabulous. More of them in a week’s time.
Year: 2019
Boonrod has a home!
Good news to our earlier story.
On April 30th I published a story that had been on the BBC News website about a dog that had been rescued from the sea some 200+ kilometres from the Thai coast.
It drew a fair amount of replies.
Then Margaret from Tasmania left a reply that contained the link to an article in the Bangkok Post. It was very good news!
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Rescue dog heads to new home in Khon Kaen
29 Apr 2019
WRITER: GARY BOYLE
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: ASSAWIN PAKKAWAN
Seafaring dog Boonrod is heading to a new life in Khon Kaen with his new owner — one of the oil rig workers who rescued him from the ocean in a story that captured international attention.
“We’re leaving,” owner Vitisak Payalaw posted in a message on the Boonrod Facebook page on Saturday evening.
Mr Vitisak, an planner of Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, met Boonrod — in Thai — on Saturday for the first time since the team found him to an oil platform in the Gulf of Thailand about 220km from the shore in Songkhla on April 12.
How Boonrod got there remains a mystery, but it is believed that he must have fallen off a trawler. After helping rescue the deepwater dog, Mr Vitisak offered to be his new owner.
The exhausted animal was brought ashore on April 15 and lodged at Dog Smile House, a shelter in Hat Yai district of the southern province, with financial support from the US oil firm and Watchdog Thailand, a non-profit group.
Boonrod appeared delighted to see Mr Vitisak and the other members of the oil rig team who rescued him.
Mr Vitisak said he was taking annual leave from his work at the oil platform to transport the dog to his home in Khon Kaen, almost 1,500km from Hat Yai. The house in the northeastern province has been prepared to accomodate a new resident, the Chevron employee added.
Mr Vitisak asked for privacy and requested that well-wishers not visit his new pet at his parents’ home in Khon Kaen. But fans are welcome to greet Boonrod when he walks the dog, he added.
He also encouraged other animal lovers to adopt pets if they can.
The story of Boonrod was carried by global news agencies, including CNN. He can be followed on his Facebook page.
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We love stories like that!
Good luck to Boonrod and to his new friends.
Svalbard video
And, yes, it does concern dogs!
I wasn’t going to post anything today but then came across this YouTube video.
So watch and enjoy.
A bit too cold for my liking!
And another dog saved!
Another example of that man-dog relationship.
So many people put their dog before anything else.
Take Randy Etter and his dog Gemini.
Or rather take The Dodo‘s description of Randy and Gemini.
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Man Immediately Puts His Car Up For Sale To Save His Dog’s Life
“I would be devastated if I lost my best friend.”
PUBLISHED ON 04/24/2019
Randy Etter and his dog Gemini have been together since Gemini was just a little puppy. It’s been around two years now, and the pair are the absolute best of friends. They love each other so much and brighten each other’s lives every single day — so when Etter found out he might lose Gemini, he vowed to do absolutely everything he could to save his life.
Gemini was playing with Etter’s girlfriend’s daughter one day four weeks ago, and the baby thought it was hilarious to continuously throw her bottle out of her playpen at Gemini. Gemini would pick it up every time and his dad would quickly grab it from him, wash it off, and give it back to the baby — but at some point, Gemini got ahold of the bottle without his dad realizing and ended up eating the top off of it.
No one had any idea that Gemini had swallowed something he wasn’t supposed to — until he started getting very, very sick.
“He just started to slow down and I didn’t think that was normal, just laying beside me and following me everywhere,” Etter told The Dodo. “I just felt like he was saying, ‘Help me.’”
When Gemini started vomiting uncontrollably, his dad knew something was very, very wrong, and immediately rushed him to the vet. Unfortunately, at first, no one could tell him for sure what was wrong with Gemini.
“I lost my job driving vet to vet to vet and it just seemed like I wasn’t gonna get anywhere or get him the help he needed in time,” Etter said. “It was truly one of the scariest things I had to deal with.”
Finally, a vet was able to confirm that Gemini had a blockage inside of him and would need surgery — which would cost $4,500, money that Etter definitely did not have. Losing Gemini was not an option, though, and so he decided to put his car up for sale to try and raise at least part of the money to save his best friend’s life.
“I was gonna spend every dollar made from the car sale on his surgery,” Etter said. “I would be devastated if I lost my best friend.”
Eventually, a friend was able to loan him $2,000, but it still wasn’t enough — until a local charity heard about his plight and decided to do everything they could to help Etter and Gemini.
The S.O.A.R Initiative (Street Outreach Animal Response) heard about what was happening to Etter and Gemini, and were able to raise nearly $3,000 in donations from total strangers who just wanted to help the best friend pair continue their life together. With all of the donated money, Gemini was able to have the surgery — and made it through with flying colors.
Gemini is now recovering well, safe in the arms of his dad and best friend. Etter is so grateful to everyone who helped him keep Gemini alive, and can’t imagine what he would have done without everyone’s support.
“It means the world to me,” Etter said. “He’s my best friend. He’s always there for me, I just wanted to be able to return the favor and be there for him.”
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Randy puts it perfectly; “He’s my best friend. He’s always there for me, I just wanted to be able to return the favor and be there for him.”
Thousands upon thousands of people feel exactly the same way.
Thank goodness for dogs!
Dog saved!
This was on the BBC News the other day!
This remarkable story of a dog that was rescued some 200+ kilometres off the coast of Thailand was featured on the BBC news website.
It’s quite amazing and truly miraculous.
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Dog rescued 220km from Thai coast by rig workers
A dog discovered some 220km (135 miles) off the coast of Thailand has been rescued by a team of oil rig workers after the exhausted pooch was spotted paddling near a drilling platform.
The brown aspin swam towards the workers when they called out to him last Friday afternoon. He was then pulled to safety.
It is not clear how the dog became stranded so far out at sea. Some reports suggest he may have fallen from a fishing trawler.
The rig workers named the dog Boonrod, a Thai word that roughly translates as “the saved one” or “survivor”.
Boonrod was said to have been exhausted and in need of fresh drinking water and food.
He was nursed back to health on the rig while staff radioed for help, requesting the assistance of a tanker that was heading back to shore.
Boonrod had to have a proper wash to cleanse his fur of salt from the seawater. Afterwards, he had a nap.
The conditions were said to have been calm during the rescue, which workers said made it easier to spot Boonrod among the rusty metal bars of the rig.
Boonrod was lifted by crane on to an oil vessel that was passing through the area on Sunday to be transported to a veterinary practice in southern Thailand.
The dog was said to have been in good spirits when he arrived on land to be taken to the vet.
(All images are copyright Viralpress.)
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The fact that this dog was rescued so far out to sea is incredible. Clearly, the poor dog had fallen off another vessel but the details of that incident are not known and it is purely conjecture.
But what is really important was that the dog was rescued and returned to health.
Learning from Dogs 