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
Sherrie Erving
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Some will make her a forever home great. dont look for old owners .
Dorothy Paulsen
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Why look for owners, apparently they didn’t want the dog.
Crespo Ivette
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God bless you for saving all animals.
Seema Joshi
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Absolutely NOT! This sweet furbaby needs a NEW family who will love and PROTECT her. The previous idiot and thoughtless owners, not to mention cruel left her to die. Animals have feelings and emotions, as do all leaving beings. What the h*** did they think? That this sweet girl wouldn’t be terrified and wouldn’t have suffered a horrific death if she had drowned. They do not deserve any animal!
Barbara Yasney Garakian
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THANK GOD he was saved…. I was wondering what happened…. Don’t look for his owners.. they left him there….. REALLY??????
Debi Moran
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Let Lucky be adopted
Amy Bourgeois Stanks
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Don’t find her owner. Find a respectable family the doesn’t ditch a family member during a horrible storm chained to a pole.
Rachael Galea
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Trailer park. Enough said.
Cristi Zbella
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Don’t return that dog to it’s owners! Shame on them for tethering that dog to begin with, and let alone during a storm and hurricane. They don’t deserve a pet.
Cristi Zbella
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Don’t return that dog to it’s owners! Shame on them for tethering that dog to begin with, and let alone during a storm and hurricane. They don’t deserve a pet.
Jan Hillyard
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Ya screw the owners that left the poor baby like that.
Billie Reed
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The owner needs to be found and prosecuted!!
Trish Edwards
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Not sharing…he needs a better home.
Gail Esposito
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People are so cruel.
Dorothy Burnett
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Needs a new Family
Elly Stoiber
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The owner obviously didn’t give a$#%&!@*about his safety. They shouldn’t get him back.
Jeannette Minutillo
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YOU bet your$#%&!@*I am sick in my stomach what is going on with people leaving there pets behind don’t give them back to them
Smiljana Savicic
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i’m not sure that’s the situation. if people are taking their kids, i’m not seeing how this is any different. and they’re not holding on for dear life over a cliff. they’re evacuating. i don’t know why they can’t evacuate WITH the dog.
Heather Warden
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Why would try to find the owners for any of These animals left to die or hopefully be ok? Just awful I would save my pets before myself! Some of these pictures I’ve seen circulating breaks my heart! So glad there are some good people out there helping these animals!
Cathy Pullum
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I agree. Wouldn’t it be a shame if those people were never seen again? I’m sorry any kind of animal abuse is so upsetting
Craig Sanchez
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f**k the “owners”! The rescuers should have first option to give that poor pet a new home. Second, anyone who is responsible and loving and wants to give them a new home. Those “owners” that would tie their pet to a tree or kennel them in rising water or any situation without regard to their “pet’s” life can suck a big bag of dicks!
Trish Beckner Wumkes
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Ellee we know she was tied to a pole, alone. Not sure what other details are needed. Never wouldve had my dogs tied to a pole especially during a hurricane. If you do not see an issue with this, well I hope you don’t have pets.
Stacy Holden
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Why find his owners? They tied him up so that he could drown? I don’t think they deserve him back. Why wouldn’t they have just let him go fee so he had a fighting chance of saving himself?
Kathy Villone
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So glad to hear
Paula Noble
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Some shelters don’t take animals
Ruby Bitanga-Saghir
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The owners don’t deserve to have her. Are u kidding me!
Charlene Koger Finley
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Sandra Powell, I’m like you. I prayed someone would be kind enough to save her. I cried when I saw the pictures. Couldn’t sleep with that image imprinted in my brain I can’t fathom leaving an animal tied up like that. My first thought is always of my family and fur babies in stressful situations. God bless the kind-hearted man who rescued Lucky and the others. Hope he can adopt her as she deserves someone to love her to the moon and back!
Sandy Sweeney
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Was going to type the same thing but u did it good enough.
Tasha Goodrich
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Find new owners.
Hailey Batterton
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Why give her back to the ones that left her? She needs a new family that knows what love is.
Jim Farris
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Need to find the owners alright,but not to give her back
Beatrice Nico Sue
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Help find the owners to bring criminal charges against them !!!
Yvonne Hullett Gefrich
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Why would anyone want to find the owners that tied her up to a pole and left her to drown?
Gaynor Fisher
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Find the old owners & charge them with animal cruelty
Thom Jenkins
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Why in God’s name would you return her to people who did this?
Ruby Bitanga-Saghir
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Tied on a pole? Think!
Leona Boswell
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I’m sure theres plenty of other dogs , pets do noy get rescued
Madilyn Bottomley
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Find the owners and charge them with animal cruelty.
Noralee Pashkow
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You mean the same people the title to the Paul oh my goodness they shouldn’t be allowed to have her
Mary Jackson
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New Owners Please..
June Huhn
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Who would leave their dog behind? This is abuse, plain and simple. I would adopt this baby in a second.
Lee Fiorentino Ozolins
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why? she was left there tied up and now we should help find these abusive people. If found they should be prosecuted for animal cruelty not rewarded with their fur baby that someone else saved.
Paula Noble
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We don’t know what they were thinking …I am just glad they got saved
Karin Carlisi Welsh
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Why in God’s name would you want to find its lowlife owners who abandoned him?????????? Find a new owner who would LOVE this dog!!!!!!
Carol Stock
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Please someone adopt her NOT THE OWNERS .
Maria Melville Dubois
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Don’t give the dog back!
Carole Moore
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Have a lovely life gorgeous
Kathleen Koneski
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Why would you want to return her to her owners, they left her tied to a tree to die without the ability to even help herself, they do not deserve to every own another animal again. They only need to be found to be punished for this cruelty. Where has our humanity gone.
Doop Blake
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I like to know the scum backs who did that to their dog,I like to tie them to the tree and let them feel to be tied up like that.hope the puppie find some real people who loves him.
LeeAnn Sawyer Johnson
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Exactly