Yes, three of those are tigers.
Edit: Holy crap, 5000! w00t!
Let me be the first to say, “What a bitch!”
Hohoho…
Good job on a PERFECT 5000 post?
Yeah, I can deal with it.
chinese zoos use dogs to suckle tiger cubs who have been rejected by their mothers.
Using dogs as surrogate mothers for animals isn’t a new thing, but the pic is cool.
Speaking of nice doggies, last year we had a Lab named Duncan who was brought in as a stray. During his time at the shelter we noticed he had a laser like focus when playing fetch games which prompted our director to make the rounds to various search and rescue organizations as he felt Duncan would be a perfect candidate. Eventually Duncan was selected and trained to become a search and rescue doggie! His story made the local paper today
Awesome story, JMR, although newsaper website registration is teh suck.
ack sorry I forgot about having to register
He was the proverbial underdog.
Duncan, a hyperactive young Labrador retriever, came to the Placer County SPCA last year as a stray, one of countless animals in area shelters with only a slim chance of finding permanent homes.
But the staff and volunteers at SPCA saw something special in Duncan: a rare focus and drive that they thought might be put to good use.
So they referred him to the National Search Dog Foundation, which recruits canines from shelters and trains them to find people buried alive in the wreckage of natural disasters and terrorist attacks.
Duncan turned out to be a star student. Today, he not only has a loving home, he also has an important job.
The rescued dog has become a rescuer.
Along with human partner Tim Brun of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Duncan is well on his way to becoming part of an elite team of dogs and handlers who respond to earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides and all manner of other disasters around the globe.
“Duncan’s a very special guy,” said Brun, who is based at Station 33, north of Los Angeles, one of the busiest in the country. “He and I are a perfect match, and I am 100 percent sure that he is going to save someone’s life someday.”
Duncan showed up at the Placer shelter in August last year, said executive director Leilani Vierra. His high energy made him stand out, and he was hyper-focused on tasks, including fetching.
“When volunteers would put his ball in a tree in an effort to direct his attention elsewhere, he basically would climb the tree to get it,” Vierra said.
Vierra and her staff concluded that his temperament might make him “difficult to manage in a typical household,” she said. But they thought he might make the perfect rescue dog.
The nonprofit Search Dog Foundation, which formed after the 1995 Oklahoma City terrorist bombing, visited the shelter a couple of weeks later and agreed.
The foundation gives the dogs intense training, pairs them with firefighters and other “first responders,” and ensures their lifetime care. When they finish training, the dogs and their handlers are certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and can be dispatched anywhere in the world. Only 67 certified canine search teams exist in the United States, according to the group, and 25 of them were trained by the Search Dog Foundation, which is based in Ojai.
Highly trained dogs are invaluable at disaster sites, because they have a remarkable sense of smell and an amazing ability to ignore scents and noises that might distract or frighten other canines. They also can quickly navigate unstable and slippery terrain and get to places that humans cannot.
Duncan began his training at Sundowners Training Kennel in Gilroy, and later was paired with Brun. The two have continued to hone their skills at the fire station, at home and at construction sites throughout Southern California.
The dog is trained to detect “live humans” hidden in and around rubble, ignoring planted distractions such as food and other animals. When he detects an unfamiliar human scent, he alerts Brun by barking.
“He’s absolutely amazing,” said the firefighter. “He is Superdog in the rubble. He can climb a 60-foot pile and find people. He’s like a kid in a candy store out there.”
If all goes as expected, Brun and Duncan will get their FEMA certification in the next year or so.
But Duncan is more than a working dog, Brun said. He’s also the family dog, and gets along famously with Brun’s wife, Erica, and their children, Noah, 5, and Chloe, 7.
“When he’s at work, he’s all business,” Brun said. “But at home he gets lots of loving family time.”
“I’m so blessed and grateful that the Placer SPCA saw Duncan’s skills,” said Brun. “He’s the best search dog ever.”
Score one for the underdog.
That’s a wonderful story, JMR. Thanks for sharing that!
I’m not a dog person, but that is pretty damn cool. I think we here on QT3 are a little too cynical so more good news stories like that around here will go down well, thanks.
I am a dog person. Go dogs.
Humans rescue doggy to rescue humans.