Letter Carrier Rescues Two Dogs from Flooded Canal
Media release from Helen Woodward Animal Center (HWAC):
While
rain, snow, and dark of night will not prevent a letter carrier from
completing her appointed rounds, two chihuahuas struggling to survive
in a flooded ditch might be a different story.
“A letter
carrier in Visalia was driving her mail truck during a rain storm when
she spotted two small dogs by the side of the road,” said HWAC
spokesman John Van Zante. “They looked wet, but otherwise safe. The
United States Postal Service does not allow carriers to pick up stray
animals in their vehicles, so this carrier made a mental note of where
the dogs were then she completed her rounds.”
HWAC Adoptions
Manager LaBeth Thompson continued the story. “After delivering her mail
the carrier went back to the place where she had seen the dogs. She
didn’t think they could have gone very far so she walked up over a
ridge and saw one of the dogs in a canal ditch that was filled with
water from the rain storm.”
Van Zante said, “Our friends at Love
of Animals (LOA), an all-volunteer pet adoption organization in
Visalia, tell us that the rescuer was a small woman—about 100 pounds.
She jumped into the canal to rescue the dog, but found herself up to
her neck in cold, murky water. Someone saw her struggling toward the
dog. Together they rescued that dog and another dog that was, by that
time, at the edge of the water, dripping wet.”
The mail carrier
turned both dogs over to Love of Animals. After making sure the dogs
did not need medical care, LOA transferred the dogs to Helen Woodward
Animal Center where they are available for adoption.
Thompson
said, “The two, blonde, female chihuahuas arrived here on Wednesday.
Because of their circumstances we have named them ‘Spring’ and ‘Rain’.
But we’re forecasting a bright future for both of these little
survivors.”
To meet Spring, Rain, and other orphaned dogs and cats in need of loving families visit:
Helen Woodward Animal Center 6461 El Apajo Road Rancho Santa Fe, CA Tel. (858) 756-4117
