With the waters above her paws and a leash tethering her to a pole, the dog looked on the verge of becoming a victim of Hurricane Harvey.
The mongrel was soaked to the skin and apparently abandoned in an area where every human had fled before the storm – until DailyMail.com intervened.
Photographer Ruaridh Connellan rushed across the flood water, which was fortunately not dangerously deep, and untied the dog, who wagged her tail and bounded of to safer ground.
Her name now? Lucky – although she still needs a bit more luck to come her way. Lucky was left tied up by her owners on the land where they had been living in a trailer just outside Victoria.
They seemed to have fled, as did all their neighbors.
Whether by accident or design, they left her tied to a post on a leash, where our photographer and reporter her found her on Saturday afternoon.
She was happy to be free and led DailyMail.com to her friends: another dog, a pit bull cross breed, two cats and a small pony.
The pit bull cross was also tied up, but on a longer leach and on the dry land; suggesting that Lucky being tied up in a more dangerous spot may well have been an accident of panicked people fleeing from danger.
Connellan said he couldn’t sleep that night wondering if the pet pooch was OK. And the next day DailyMail.com returned to the trailer.
‘I was happy to see Lucky when I pulled up to the property, she came running out through the fence and greeted and me wagging her tail,’ Connellan said.
‘I fed Lucky some food I had in my car and gave her some fresh water.’
Lucky and the other animals appeared frightened but otherwise safe, for now.
Connellan called the local animal control agency to report the abandoned animals and plans on adopting Lucky if possible. But the authorities are understandably overwhelmed by the scale of the unfolding disaster.
So far DailyMail.com has been unable to trace who was living at the trailer before they left Lucky tied up. She and the other animals had been well-looked after before they left, but they need human attention soon.
Connellan would be happy to step into the breach, after forming a bond with the energetic mongrel.
‘I’d love to take Lucky to live with me in New York. But sadly I’ll have to wait and go through the proper channels.
‘I’m disappointed in people who abandon their animals. I feel good about what I did. There is no doubt in my mind, if I didn’t unleash Lucky from the tree, she would have drowned.’
Do you know Lucky’s owners? Email newsus@mailonline.com
Carol Kelly
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Need new owners, if she was tethered. That’s a life not a bag of sand to stop water from rising. Sorry.
Tim Woolf
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so where are the neglectful owners shame on them
Billy Smith
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They don’t need her
Diana Van Rensburg
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Find the owners and then prosecute them. They will never come forward for that reason. Find more caring
persons.
Joan Lantz Burden
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NO… they left her tied up. Anyone leaving their animals tied up should NOT get them back. Many animals drowned because they were restrained in some way and drowned and could not help themselves.
Lesley Cox
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Totally agree.
Lynda Brown
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Poor little dog glad they saved it I hope the find his family soon he a cute dog
Kristen Haynos
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Hope he’s in a good home!
Cindi Scott
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You mean finding a CARING NEW family!
Lee Ann Dailey Lentner
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Agreed
Melanne Keim
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You should not be looking for her old family….they left her to die. Find her a new loving home who deserves her.
Karen Morris
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Sweet pup. ❤️
Sandy Whitmore
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No way. He needs new loving owners. People who leave a dog tied to a tree are terrible people
Joyce Pierson
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Why give her back to the people that left her to die??
Debbie Cartwright Carruthers
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They left her tied up to die? She has no owners worth spit, find her a loving family.
Nancy Bunker
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We don’t want her to be with her cruel owners!!!
Brett Bee
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Do not find this angels owners!!!! Put him with people who will love him and not tie him up and abandon him! Shameful!
Mary Walker
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If she was tied up by her owners please don’t give her back to them!!!
Lorrie Jaramillo
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The poor dog was left behind. Needs new owners, not the original.
Mara Roberts
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Do not give her back to her owners! They obviously don’t give a damm!
Stacie Boyd Davis
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Please tell me that you’re looking for the owners to prosecute them! Wtf?!?
Vicki Bucher
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Please help find my owners!!
Cheryl Berwald-Orobode
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Exactly they left the dog tied up to die they shouldnt get him back
Bogey Birdie
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What… She needs loving owners who will NEVER leave her behind !
Madeline Sanders
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How can you leave yr dog tied up accidentally ? If it didn’t drown it would have starved ! They don’t deserve to have a dog !
Jon Mancusso
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Aww sweet baby