National Network for Equitable Library Service

People often form strong attachments to the animals in their lives, and sometimes the connection is so deep that pets put their lives on the line for the ones they love: * Angel, a golden retriever belonging to 11-year-old Austin Forman of Boston Bar, BC, intercepted a cougar as it leapt at her owner *Ning Nong, a four-year-old pet elephant in Phuket, Thailand, knew instinctively when a tsunami was about to crest in 2004; she led many to higher ground, saving them from drowning in the Indian Ocean * Effie, a 15-year-old German shorthair from Pine City, Minnesota, and her owner were out for a walk when she began pulling on her leash to get her master to take an alternate route; they wound up rescuing a 94-year-old man * Lulu, a pot-bellied pig, halted traffic on the shores of Lake Erie and led a rescuer to her owner, who was suffering from a heart attack * A parakeet named Willie helped save two-year-old Hannah Kuusk from choking by alerting his owner * The persistent yowling of an orange cat named Gepetto saved his owner, Phyllis Birch, from deadly carbon monoxide poisoning * When Fiona Boyd got between a cow and its calf, she might have been killed or severely injured if not for the actions of Kerry, her 15-year-old chestnut mare. * And more.