When people jump into fast-moving water to save dogs, it also puts them in danger. However, in the meantime, you don’t have time to think. So dog lovers often jump in behind their struggling canines because they love them so much.
There are many stories of people and their dogs being rescued from the water as quickly as possible. But a woman and her dog in Arizona don’t have that luxury. When the woman jumped into the canal after her dog, no one else was there to call for help. So the duo struggled in fast-moving water for 18 hours before help arrived.
Fight for 18 hours
The woman was working in the area with her dog. She let her companion dog run around because she didn’t know there was water nearby. She then watched her furry friend fall into the canal and try to get out. The water was fast, and the edges of the canal were too steep to climb out.
So the woman tried to get her 55-pound dog to safety but ended up getting stuck in the canal. The current was too strong and fast for the woman and the dog, and there was no one around to call for help. The two victims ended up grabbing a tree under the water.
The duo fell into the water just before 7pm and disappeared unnoticed until the next morning. A train conductor passed through the canal and noticed the woman and dog struggling, so they called 911. Many trains had run before that, but that conductor was the first to notice the people who were running. in danger.
The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office answered the call. The woman almost wanted to give up, but once she heard the sirens coming towards her, she continued to fight for her life. The officers helped the dog ashore and then unleashed their creativity to find a way to pull the woman up.
Finally Safety!
Bodycam footage from officers shows the woman’s rescue. The first strap they threw to the woman broke, but they had a backup plan. They used a long dog leash to wrap around the woman’s body like a leash. They then dragged her ashore as she gasped for air from exhaustion.
“Her body told the story of her constant struggle. She had scratches on her arms and legs. She got sunburnt. She looked so exhausted that she couldn’t stand on her own two feet,” said Sgt. Juan Salcido.
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Thankfully, the woman and dog didn’t appear to have any life-threatening injuries, but they were both quite thin and exhausted. So they are now resting and recuperating.
The woman’s brother, Ken Anderson, commented sharing how grateful he was to everyone involved. He said that many heroes played a part in saving his sister and her dog, and they might not have survived otherwise.
“The conductor who reported this didn’t know how things were going after he broadcast it in his dispatch and they one by one called 911. He didn’t know she had just spent the 18 hour night in the canal. there,” wrote Anderson. “To Sergeant Salcido, Deputy Rice, Officer Meza, EA Williams, and all the unsung HEROES who participated in this rescue, THANK YOU so much for saving my sister’s life!!!”
Watch The Terrible Rescue Here:
