Tuesday, May 8, 2007

JRT Defends To The Death

A George Update: 8 May 2007
The Royal Society for the Protection of Animals, New Zealand’s main animal welfare agency, awarded a bravery medal to George, the spunky Jack Russell terrier who is credited with saving five children from a pair of attacking pitbulls.
"It was an extraordinary act of heroism," according to the society’s chief executive, Robyn Kippenberger. "It says a huge amount for the animal-human bond that he actually went in to save them." Kippenberger said her group’s recognition for bravery "has not been awarded to a dog since 1990," as it is usually given to humans for their bravery in helping animals. Trained police dogs were the two previous canine recipients. "That he weighed into a couple of dogs considerably larger than himself, clearly to protect a child, is just a most amazing act and needs to be recognized," she said. We say, Good on ya', George!

Originally posted: 6 May 2007
George, a 9-year-old Jack Russell terrier, fought off two pit bulls, saving five children.The Daily Mail is reporting that "a plucky foot-high Jack Russell terrier named George saved five New Zealand children from two marauding pitbulls, but was so severely mauled in the fight he had to be destroyed, according to his devastated owner.
"George was playing with the group of children as they returned home from buying sweets at a neighborhood shop in the small North Island town of Manaia last Sunday when the two pitbulls appeared and lunged toward them, his owner Allan Gay said.
" 'George was brave -- he took them on and he's not even a foot high,' Gay told The Associated Press. 'He jumped in on them, he tried to keep them off. If it wasn't for George, those kids would have copped it.'
" 'George tried to protect us by barking and rushing at them, but they started to bite him -- one on the head and the other on the back,' Richard Rosewarne, 11, said. 'We ran off crying and some people saw what was happening and rescued George.' "

The size of a terrier's heart has no relation whatever to its stature. Read the whole story here.

Post Script: TVNZ.co.nz is reporting [video links are available] that the story of George has travelled around the world and that "fellow dog lover and former US marine Jerrell Hudman from Austin, Texas read the story and is going to send his purple heart to mend Gay's broken one. 'My wife was reading it to me over the Internet and...it's just a moving story, it really tore me up,' Hudman says. Hudman was awarded the purple heart when injured in the Vietnam War but thinks George deserves a medal of his own. 'It's the most any living thing can do for another living thing, is protect them like that.' "

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