hero

Pets are comforting animals in our lives, but in some people's lives -- they are the very reason they're STILL alive. 

In a viral Facebook post, by Genial, users flooded the comment section and shared stories of how their pets have saved their lives. We've gathered the top stories and shared them below. 

All we can say is thank goodness for our beloved pets. 

One man, Kendall Diwisch of Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada, is being praised as a hero! 

Diwisch came across three abandoned kittens that were frozen to the ground, thinking on his feet, Diwish quickly returns to his truck, brings back warm coffee, and pours the fluid onto the stuck felines. Essentially, thawing them out. 

He posted on Facebook, "So today I found these three fellows on one of the back roads near one of my wells. Most likely dropped off. Poor things were frozen into the ice so they had to have been there all night. All three little rascals went to their new home today where they get to be together instead of separating them. All three are eating and drinking and very energetic. Thanks for everyone's consideration and offering to take them very appreciated."

After the incident, Diwisch took the poor little kittens back to his home where he gave him food and water, and of course, a warm shelter. 

In his Facebook post, he added: "All three little rascals went to their new home today where they get to be together instead of separating them. All three are eating and drinking and very energetic. Thanks for everyone's consideration and offering to take them very appreciated."

A million thanks to Mr Diwisch! Thank you for your kind and loving generosity for these kittens! 

Story via Independent

After all, what are big sisters for?

In the adorable now viral video (uploaded by Reddit user u/YourMumWasHere), you can see a kitten playing with a toy when it suddenly gets stuck up on the fridge. After trying to reach for it, the kitten has decidedly given up... that is, until big sister arrives! The older cat "comes to the rescue" and helps retrieve the stuck toy and walks off nonchalantly.

Pretty bad-ass move, big sis! 

Diego, a 100-year-old Galapagos Tortoise (Chelonoidis hoodensis), from the Galapagos island, is set to be released to his native island of Espanola this March, according to the Galapagos National Parks service (PNG).

Park rangers on Santa Cruz Island, California, believe Diego's contribution to the program has resulted in him being the patriarch of at least 40 percent of their 2,000 tortoise population!

Diego is a hero, he single-handedly saved his species by fathering 800 offsprings! 

Jorge Carrion, the PNG director, said, "About 1,800 tortoises have been returned to Espanola and now with natural reproduction, we have approximately 2,000 tortoises. This shows that they are able to grow, they are able to reproduce, they are able to develop."

And just to make this even more impressive, around 50 years ago, there were only two males and 12 females of Diego's species currently living on Espanola. Plus, they were too spread out to actually reproduce. 

Story via DailyMail

Meet the goodest boy we know of right now -- Bear! 

Bear is a koala detection dog. That is his job. And since the fires started raging in Australia this past September, Bear has been hard at work scouring the Earth for koalas. 

Bear is a blue-eyed border collie/koolie mix who works with the University of Sunshine Coast (USC) Detection Dogs for Conservation. Bears job is to sniff out sick, orphaned and injured koalas across New South Wales and Queensland (both of which had taken on the fires rampage the hardest). 

According to the USC site, Bear was rescued from a shelter and has an endless supply of energy, an obsessive nature, and is completely uninterested in humans -- which turns out doesn't make for a great pet, but they're the exact qualities he needs to locate and track koalas. (Sometimes he looks for other marsupials, like the endangered Northern quoll.) 

USC Detection Dogs for Conservation Senior Research Dr. Celine Frere said in a news release, "Bear is highly focused and brilliant at focusing on one thing – his ball which is his reward, which makes him perfectly suited for the job. He also has zero prey drive which is essential for a wildlife detection dog as they need to focus purely on the scent and not the animal, ultimately ignoring the animal."

Bear was trained by USC academic and also works in partnership with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Story via Mother Nature Network

There's a real life Ace Ventura Pet Detective in Shanghai, Asia, and he's incredible at this job! 

Meet Private sleuth Sun Jinrong, a real-life pet detective who gets the job done, and unlike Jim Carey's Ventura -- does so without the goofiness. 

Though, we are quite fond of the goofiness. 

Anyways, Jinrong is being dubbed as the nation's FIRST pet detective! Apparently, he is completely stoney-faced but adores animals so much that he solves only animal-related cases. 7 years ago, Jinrong first launched his pet detective business and so far has reunited around 1,000 missing pets back with their worried owners.

And he solves each case with the help of high-gear tech. 

Can this dude sound any cooler? 

Story via Breaking Asia

We hear about dogs saving people's lives all the time, but what about cats? Can cats be 'heroic'? With this video uploaded to Facebook, the answer to that question is a definite yes. 

DLore Álvarez, from Bogota, Colombia, shared an incredible video on Facebook, of her cat rescuing her son. The cat named Gatubela stopping her little boy, Samuel, from heading towards dangerous staircase.

Samuel, one-years-old, was crawling towards the staircase, as seen in the security footage uploaded to Facebook, when Gatubela quickly jumps into action. Gatubela inserts itself between the toddler and the dangerously steep fall of approximately 12 steps. 

We are in complete awe and now know that yes, cat's can definitely be defined as "heroes."

Meet Sasha Pesic! Founder of Sasha's Shelter in the Serbian city of Nis. His journey that lead him down this path all started in 2008, when when Sasha was returning to his home in Nis and happened to come across four abandoned puppies along the way. Even without financial conditions, Sasha was moved by these four abandoned pups and decided to help them.

It was in that moment, through that small act of love that sparked a greater purpose in Sasha and has made him one of the leading defenders of animals in Serbia!

The Brazilian and dog-loving Priest, Padre Joao Paulo Araujo Gomes, is the hero we need. 

Gravatá, Brazil, is a city where there are too many stray dogs in desperate need of a forever home. Kind-hearted Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes, who is the head of the parish of Santana, brings in these stray dogs into the mass on Sundays, in hopes families will provide them with a forever home. 

And it's working. 

Story via Metro.co.uk

Meet one of the good-est dogs in the world at the moment! A declassified military K9, who is being labeled as a hero after aiding in the capture, and take down of the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. 

According to Army General and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, the heroic dog's name will not be release for security reasons. The gender of dog is also classified information that will not be revealed. The only information known about the k9 is the breed -- a Belgian Malinois.

Reported by USA Today, it is mentioned that the dog did acquire slight wounds in the massive operation to take down al-Baghdadi. However, our heroic dog has already returned to duty after treatment. 

Rightfully so, military's top officer, and the US President, have both credited the hound's "tremendous service."

"Our canine, I call it a dog, a beautiful dog – a talented dog – was injured and brought back," Trump said.

Thank you, declassified hero! We adore you!

Currently, the Twitterverse is taking a moment to appreciate the Belgian Malinois breed:

Scott Poore, a Kansas City animal advocate, has moved into an animal shelter, Great Plains SPCA, where a three-year-old terrier mix named Queen has been for more than 400 days. 

Queen was found in the shelter near his home by animal rescue officers. She was found living behind a dumpster and had medical issues that prevented her from being adopted straight away. Poore could come visit Queen every day for the past year and it broke his heart that this loving pup hasn't found her forever home. 

He wanted to come up with a creative way to get people to notice Queen and his solution? To move out of his house and into hers, until she finds her forever home. 

Tam Singer, the Great Plains SPCA CEO, was asked to document the experience by Poore. And as wild as the idea sounds, Singer was more than willing to help out and called the idea "fantastic."

Singer told Yahoo Lifestyle, "He has the ability to make individual dogs matter. He's helped so many of our dogs and dogs all over Kansas, More than anything, it highlights not only the plight of Queen but so many other dogs. It's magnificent."

This is the type of woman everyone should look up to! When the monster of a hurricane came crashing down in the Bahamas, Chella Phillips opened her doors to nearly 100 dogs in order to protect them. Phillips runs a rescue service for homeless dogs called 'Voiceless Dogs of Nassau' and has rescued nearly 1000 dogs. She now single-handedly saving 97 more. 

She posted images of all the pups in her humble place, on her Facebook page. In the post, Phillips describes the situation as "insane," adding that "97 dogs are inside my house and 79 of them are inside my master bedroom."

How is it to live with 97 dogs in such a confined area? Phillips wrote, "It has been insane since last night, poop and pee... non stop."

However, despite the insanity of the situation, Phillips said that her house guest have been very respectful of her bed, "nobody has dared to jump in," and miraculously, all the dogs have been wagging their tails and getting along just fine.  

Our guess is that they can sense the severity of the situation outside and are eternity grateful to Phillips for the warm and dry shelter.

People have donated crates to the house, to house the "scared ones and the sick ones." Phillips also mentioned that she's been entertaining her guests with some cartoons, that is until the power went out on Monday. 

In a Facebook update, "All services are down, all TVs are fried from the lightnings so no more cartoons for the sick dogs until we can purchase new ones," Phillips wrote. And despite saving nearly 100 dogs, Phillips couldn't help but feel heartache for other homeless dogs she didn't get to. 

"I pray for the other islands who have unimaginable damages and I don't see how any dogs or any living being could have survived outside. My heart goes out to them."

Hurricane Dorian, a Category 4 storm, sustained winds reached 297kmh, gusts up to 354kmh, and is officially tied the record for the most powerful Atlantic hurricane to ever make landfill. 

We hope this hurricane passes soon with no more damage and thank Chella Phillips for her selflessness and big heart. 

You can send donations here.

Meet the cat man of Aleppo -- Mohammad Aljaleel. He has been looking after the stray cays of Aleppo during the aerial bombardment. 

Since the bombardment, Aljaleel has set up a dedicated sanctuary and veterinary clinic for the homeless felines. 

This man is our hero. 

Story via The Guardian