Having recently published a couple of posts about Los Angeles firemen rescuing a dog from a swollen river it was wonderful to catch a short story on the BBC about another dog rescue, this time a dog that had floated miles away from land on an ice floe!
Baltic the lucky dog
Anyway, the BBC have a nice video clip that will put a smile on your face.
The BBC recently screened one of the most fascinating programmes in ages (OK, subjective comment!). It was about the relationship between dogs and humans. The hour-long programme demonstrated just how important that relationship between dog and man really is.
Indeed, within the first few minutes of the programme, one of the contributors says that without that early domestication of dogs, civilisation of man might not have taken place!
Luckily someone has uploaded this programme onto YouTube. This Post contains the link to the first of 6 parts with the following 5 parts being presented on this Blog each day.
Please, please take time to watch these videos – they will amaze you, and very possibly bring tears to your eyes.
So if you are a dog owner, prepare to see your dog friend in a totally new way.
The Los Angeles Times update on this wonderful story.
The Los Angeles Fire Department firefighter who rescued a panicked dog from the brown, rushing waters of the Los Angeles River this afternoon said that unless firefighters acted, someone else was likely to have ventured into the concrete wash and wound up a casualty.
Joe St. Georges, 50, the firefighter who captivated much of Los Angeles as he was lowered by a tether into the churning waters to rescue the hound, told reporters late Friday that he suffered a bite to his thumb but was otherwise OK.
“I didn’t have time to establish a rapport with the dog,” St. Georges said, in a classic understatement, as he held his heavily bandaged hand in the air. “He did what dogs do.”
Joe St. Georges and 'Vernon' the dog!
The dog was taken by [human] ambulance to a Downey shelter run by the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority, which serves 14 cities, including Vernon.
Animal Control Officer Justin Guzman said the 6-year-old German shepherd mix was cold and wet, but otherwise unhurt. He showed no further aggression, and shelter staff named him Vernon.
“He’s really lovable,” Guzman said. “He’s appreciating all the attention he’s getting here.“
Guzman said there were a “million” ways and reasons Vernon could have gotten into the river channel.
“Whether he got scared by the thunderstorm and jumped the fence, we don’t know,” he said.
The dog was never really swept away, but managed for the most part to maintain his footing on a slender ledge in the middle of the river, the officer said.
The dog will be quarantined and watched for signs of rabies.
Marcia Mayeda, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control, said the disease is extremely rare in domestic animals. Untagged and loose, the dog was technically in violation of city codes, but the owners will face no repercussions if they step forward and take him home, Guzman said.
If they don’t, the shelter by early evening already had a list of 20 people who want to adopt Vernon.
Mayeda said she was very impressed by St. Georges’ actions.
Fire-fighters rescue dog from flooded Los Angeles river.
Tomorrow on Learning from Dogs there is part one of a six-part Post about The Secret Life of the Dog. It includes the amazing proposition that our relationship with dogs was instrumental in early man becoming civilised. (Assuming, of course, that you believe mankind is civilised!)
Thus it is with great pride that today’s Post presents the courageous and successful efforts of LA Fire Fighters rescuing a German Shepherd dog, scared out of its wits, from drowning in a river.
Here’s an extract from the Los Angeles Times:
We don’t know about you, but we were glued to our TV screen earlier this afternoon as the effort to rescue a large dog trapped in the flooded Los Angeles River was broadcast live. The rainstorms that have been pummeling L.A. over the past few days have caused the river to swell. It’s unclear who, if anyone, owns the dog, or how it managed to fall into the fast-moving river in Vernon.
The full article and a video of the rescue may be seen here. The article goes on to say:
Firefighters first attempted to rescue it by dangling flotation devices from a bridge overhead, to no avail. The dog then evaded firefighters who tried to approach it, sloshing further down the river. Around 12:30 p.m., it managed to reach the edge of the river and attempted to climb up a steep concrete wall to safety, but several times fell back into the river.
Finally, a firefighter dangling beneath a helicopter managed to grab hold of the terrified dog, who responded (rather predictably) by biting its rescuer and thrashing about. Despite the inherent difficulty of rescuing an animal that doesn’t want to be rescued, the firefighter managed to lift the dog to safety; both were deposited on a nearby bridge. The dog was transferred to an ambulance for veterinary care and its rescuer was taken to a hospital for treatment of bite wounds, KTLA reported.
Most mornings I surface between 6 and 7 am and like to take the dogs out for an early walk. I cut across the green and into the forest, following a short route which takes me back round past the cricket pitch, which at this time of the year has some protective poles round the wicket area.
Every day is different and the colour in the trees that fringe the common is always changing. Each tree is a different type and it is the shape on the horizon that I like to watch, picked out in silhouette form as the sun comes up from behind.
As I walk round at this quiet time my mind seems to have a clarity which enables me to focus on what I should be doing during the day.
Occasionally there will be a squirrel or bird high in the tress.
Common English buzzard
But for the last five years I have normally seen a buzzard, England’s largest bird. The colour of this bird make it hard to pick out against the background but it seems that his habit at this time of the day is to fly from post to post round the cricket pitch, and when I finally come near he will fly off into the trees.
Perhaps illogically but I have been somewhat concerned that this bird should always be on its own. Recently, though, I have heard it calling, a noise I never heard before. So you can imagine how pleased I was yesterday actually to see two birds. My buzzard has finally found a mate.
Then for me it is back home, shower, make a tray of tea for the family who are now with Mum in bed for ten minutes before they too get dressed and get ready for school.
I often feel that a situation is manipulated by fear. The word is regularly used on television and in the newspapers, and once the thought is planted it is easy to influence the masses!
I was not surprised to read that the Head of Health at the Council of Europe, Dr. Wolfgang Wodard, had said flu drug
Dr. Wodarg
makers had influenced the World Health Organisation to declare Swine flu as a pandemic so they could rake in millions.
Earlier virus outbreaks of Bird Flu, SARS, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and West Nile virus all had major news coverage lasting weeks, but despite the scare mongering, only six deaths, for example, were attributed to Bird Flu. 1.5 million chickens were slaughtered!
The initial “breaking news” regarding Swine flu warned of 65,000 possible deaths, however the campaign of panic provided a golden opportunity for representatives from the drugs companies to lay the golden egg.
To date only 251 deaths have been attributed to the N1H1 bug, and Dr Wodarg, who made the accusation, said it was just a normal flu. The swine flu scare was faked by greedy drug companies, he claimed.
I wonder how, as if by magic, the research, testing and the availability of millions of injections could be there ready for this unexpected outbreak.
In America a few years ago, the news about Anthrax being sent through the post to a government office lasted weeks. Cheap news, Scare mongering, Fear.
Have we moved on to a situation where we create commercial business at the expense of ourselves.
Big business? We wait now for the emergency debate on the issue at the end of the month.
Learning from Dogs 