20 of the Best Animal Rescue Stories of 2017

An act of kindness saved the lives of two stranded manatees. Stuck on a sandbar in Florida during Hurricane Irma, the two manatees were unable to get back to the ocean. People passing by saw the struggle and tried to help. However, the manatees were too heavy to move, so they shared their location and what they were trying to do on social media. And people responded! Good Samaritans came out in droves to help move the manatees back to water. They worked together to successfully save them both.

Image via Facebook/Michael Sechler

A Great Pyrenees named Odin made a brave stand during the recent wildfires of California. As the Hendel family packed up their car and got ready to leave, Odin refused to join them. He wanted to stay with the Hendels' eight bottle-fed goats. With minutes to go before the fire reached them, the Hendels had to make the heartbreaking decision to leave without Odin and their goats. However, when they returned to their home days later to survey the wreckage, they found Odin! Burned and battered, the Great Pyrenees had stayed safe with all eight goats and even a deer that had joined them!

Image via Facebook/Roland Tembo Hendel

In Dickinson, Texas, a CNN photographer snapped another iconic image from the wreckage of summer storm Hurricane Harvey. Two dogs were left stranded on a boat in the swelling streets of a neighborhood. Ed Lavandera shared the photo on Instagram, instantly sparking a wave of concern over the dogs' safety. Lavandera was quick to reassure the public that the dogs were A-OK, and they had been rescued.

Image via Instagram/Ed Lavandera

A cab driver in Houston was greeted by a hawk when he returned to his taxi during Hurricane Harvey. The wild bird refused to leave William Bruso's cab, so the driver started to document the experience on YouTube. Bruso's videos went viral and "Harvey the Hurricane Hawk" was soon a national sensation. Concern for the hawk spurred the Texas Wildlife Rehab Coalition to action, arriving the following day at Bruso's house, where Harvey had spent the night. He was then taken to a shelter for professional care.

Image via YouTube/WarWolfPawPrint

At a time of great destruction and loss, a story of reunion emerged in the aftermath of the hurricanes. Pete Mayher, a Florida resident, didn't think he would ever see his golden retriever, Wizzer, again when the dog went missing in 2012. However, five years later, after Hurricane Irma, good news came. Wizzer had been found! A good Samaritan had brought him to the vet, who scanned for a microchip and found Mayher. It's hard to know where exactly Wizzer spent the last five years, but the dog finally made his way home.

Image via YouTube/NBC2 News

A heartbreaking beginning had a happy ending. Ruaraidh Connellan, a Daily Mail photographer, snapped a photo of a soaked dog left tied to a pole during the torrential rains of Hurricane Harvey. Connellan waded out to save the dog, since named Lucky. The grateful pooch led him to the rest of her friends on the property: another dog, two cats and a pony. It seemed that they had been left behind while the family fled to safety. Connellan called animal services, assured the animals were all safe and went back the next day to visit Lucky!

Professional storm chaser Aaron Jayjack found more than a storm when Hurricane Harvey hit in Texas. Jayjack found a mystery dog that hopped into his Jeep and refused to leave. Jayjack took to Twitter to share the story of his journey with the lost pooch. As he continued to drive through Texas, he had more than 14,000 retweets and was eventually able to reunite the dog with its owners.

Image via Twitter/Aaron Jayjack

Having your wedding rained out is possibly the worst luck, but that rain can also lead to good things. Such was the case for Marília Pieroni and Matheus Gomes Martins, who were getting married in Laranjal Paulista, Brazil. As the rain started to come down, the couple and their guests moved under a tent to finish their wedding ceremony. However, they did not go alone. A stray dog looking for shelter followed them inside the tent and returned three times after being repeatedly shooed away. This time, he was there to stay and laid down on the bride's veil! There couldn't have been a clearer sign that this dog was meant to be a part of their family, so the couple decided to adopt the dog.

Image via Felipe Paludetto

Foul! An adorable dog interrupted a soccer game in Argentina to the internet's delight. Countless GIFs and videos were shared of the pooch running around the players and stealing the soccer ball from them. The furry interruption was a sign. The groundskeeper announced after the game that the dog would be staying on with the official title of "field dog" with the important job of chasing off pigeons.

Image via Facebook/TyC Sports

Rowdy Ward became a teen hero when he rescued a trapped horse during Hurricane Harvey. In Cleveland, Texas, Ward and his dad rode around on their horses, helping any animals they found along the way. A video of Ward busting open a pen to release a horse went viral when shared on social media. It was viewed more than 12 million times.

Image via Facebook/Chance Ward

Swipe right for good news! A woman in Northampton, England, turned to Tinder to find her missing cat. Creating a profile featuring photos of her cat and limiting the matches to about a 7-mile radius around her house, Katie Alsop was able to track down Peanut! A man matched with Alsop's profile, saying that he had seen Peanut in his back yard and the rest was history! Peanut is now at home, safe and sound.

Image: Babble via Katie Alsop

During Hurricane Harvey, a dog was left tied on a front porch in Fort Bend County, Texas. Believing that the waters would not rise high enough, the owner had knowingly left his dog tied. Sheriff Troy Nehls and a news crew were the ones who found and rescued the pooch from the water. They hauled her into a rescue boat and took her to the Humane Society. After a clean bill of health was announced and relinquishment from the previous owner (who was unable to return), Sheriff Nehls adopted the dog into his family, where she is being given lots of hugs and attention from his children.

Image via YouTube/worldwide news

Anka is a stray cat who was struck by a car in Istanbul. The poor cat now has four pins in his neck, leaving him disabled. In October, the tale of the parapalegic cat made its way to Tabby's Place in New Jersey. Knowing that they had the facilites to assist Anka, the sanctuary offered to take him. Anka became the 10th paraplegic cat to join the team at Tabby's Place!

Image via Tabby's Place

A family fleeing the rising waters of Hurricane Harvey would not leave until every member was accounted for. That included their pet pig, Penny! She had become marooned in the garage with the flooding. When firefighters assisted the rest of the family to a rescue raft, Penny's owner Lisa Eicher insisted that they help the pig, too. With some tugging and hefting, the firefighters moved Penny to safety. Her story went viral on social media.

Image via Instagram/eicherumba

The police also helped out local farmers in need during Hurricane Harvey. Their stranded cattle on city streets didn't know which way to turn, so local police stepped in to help corral the animals to higher ground. It was a sight to see on the streets of Dayton, Texas, as police vehicles slowly crept along behind dozens and dozens of cows.

Image via YouTube/ViralHog

The recent California wildfires have been quick to strike, so the team at the Wildlife Waystation was given little time to evacuate. The private animal sanctuary is home to 400 animals and owner Martine Colette was scared for their lives. However, firefighters bravely battled to save as many as they could, and Colette and her team evacuated more than 100 as the fires raged closer. The animals returned safely back to their home at the sanctuary after the fires were out.

Image via YouTube/Quartz

The people of Houston went above and beyond to rescue trapped bats during Hurricane Harvey. They fished them out of the water and underneath bridges, bringing them in for professional care at Bat World Sanctuary in Weatherford, Texas. The bats were too waterlogged to fly away from rising waters, but luckily the kindness of strangers helped them to survive.

Image via YouTube/CBSDFW

Nigel, a resident in San Diego, came home one day to find a cat waiting on his chair for him. The only problem? Nigel didn't have a cat. With no idea how the cat got into his house, he took the necessary steps to try to find the cat's owner. After visiting the vet and talking with his neighbors, Nigel finally decided that the cat was here to stay. Now named Buddy, the cat has become Nigel's best bud and follows him around wherever he goes.

Image via Imgur/Nigeltown

Instead of "March of the Penguins," Hurricane Irma saw the march of the flamingos. Busch Gardens in Tampa saved their flamingos and moved them to a temporary enclosure, safe from the winds and rain of the hurricane.

Image via Twitter/Donie O'Sullivan

In Los Angeles, animal service officers performed a daring feat. They saved a black house cat trapped 100 feet off the ground on the side of a steep cliff. While it's a mystery how Zion managed to get stuck on a cliff, the officers were up to the challenge and successfully rescued and reunited him with his owners.

Image via LA Animal Services