Animals
Panicked Pooch Trapped In Giant Boat Fire – Brave Cop Leaps At The Only Chance To Save Him
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When Officer Travis Ruggles first saw the boat, it was almost entirely engulfed by raging flames.
The police had been called to the scene at San Rafael Yacht Harbor and it was clear that a major boat fire was going to destroy one of the docked crafts.
But even worse was the fact that a terrified dog was trapped on board!
Officer Ruggles knew there wasn’t a moment to lose; the inferno was spreading and the fire department hadn’t yet arrived.
Officer rescues dog from burning boat
Officer Travis Ruggles commandeered a boat to rescue this beautiful dog that was trapped on a boat burning in the San Rafael Yacht Harbor.
Posted by San Rafael Police Department on Thursday, June 7, 2018
The poor pooch was huddled beneath some planks on the boat trying to escape the blaze, but Ruggles knew he wouldn’t last for much longer.
“When we got there the boat was pretty much engulfed, and there were people standing on the dock yelling that there was a dog on board,” Ruggles told The Dodo.
“At first I couldn’t see it, but then I caught a glimpse of this dog kind of hunkered in the corner up on the deck … basically trying to get away from the flames that were coming up on him.”
Ruggles was prepared to jump into the water to reach the trapped animal, but he suddenly got a better idea:
He spotted a small rowboat nearby and the officer quickly jumped in and started paddling toward the smoke and flames.
Ruggles reached the boat but then he realized he had another problem: the petrified pup was too scared to move. Said the officer:
“When I first got there, I reached out for the dog and he started barking and growling. So I tried to talk to him in a soft voice, and see if that would help.
He was very wide-eyed and his ears were up, so you could see how scared he was. I reached up and started petting the backside near the tail.
I could just see the eyes start to droop down, and the ears start to fall, so I took that opportunity to pull him into the boat.”
As soon as Ruggles managed to get the frightened dog into the rowboat, an assembled crowd of witnesses cheered!
The dog’s name turned out to be Tiger and he was soon reunited with his owner. The owner had lost his boat but Tiger was alive, and that was what really mattered.
And as for Ruggles, he’s an animal lover himself, so his actions make perfect sense:
“I was fortunate that I was able to help that dog. I love animals.
At the time, it didn’t seem like a really big deal — it just so happened I had the opportunity to do it — and I was not going to see that dog die.”
Source: The Dodo
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