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
James Ratman Bujold
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clairement.$#%&!@*those guys
Rosemary Carriel
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Take the dog anyone leaving there dog like that doesn’t deserve her! I would never find the owner!!
Barb Sturdy Girdler
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This is just as bad as the lab puppy !!!!!!
Cindy Ouellette
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Mais le journaliste les a sauvés!
James Ratman Bujold
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Thank god, mais quel dude irreponsable laisse son chien la bas.
Cmon peuple
James Ratman Bujold
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Y’as eu le temps de faire un noeud!!
Debra Rigdon Murphy
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Why would you want the poor dog to be returned to its owner?
Terry Mercandino Morris
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Wonderful
Cathy Clark
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That wee dog needs a new family, one that will treat him well not tie him to a post and abandon him. Very cruel
Elizabeth Levy
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please prosecute them when you do!
Sue Taylor
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New responsible owners instead, please!
Vickie Reed
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Find someone who will really love her instead of the owners. After leaving her tied to a pole to drown and die, they don’t deserve to have her, or any other animal!!
Jacqui Schwartz
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I was thinking the same thing.
Trudi Blackwood
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Last storm we had in Louisiana my husband and daughter evacuated, I stayed with the two boxers, 3 bunny rabbits, and 5 cats ! If I can’t take them I don’t leave, they are family.
Judy Weatherstone
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Find the owners and tie them up. They are scum!
Debby Bryant
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Why would you return her to her owner when they obviously don’t care about her:(
Carl Banda
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Abandoned
Amanda Wilson
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Poor we love. Hope he gets a New home soon x
Sylvia Chandler
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I think Lucky needs a different person to care for him. I hope they find one. X
Jillian Backen
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I wound nt hand her back to the arseholes who left her to drown ???
Debbie Bosworth
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Why would you give her back to owners that left her chained to a tree to drown
Paula Chatfield
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I am so glad
Graham Stacey
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Do not give her back, they don’t deserve her, shouldn’t have left her behind in the first place
Jim Dole
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Why try to find the owners unless you want to press charges against them!!!!
Lucie Campeau
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My thoughts exactly!!
Yvonne Montoya
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They don’t deserve their dog back. They abandoned her to die tied up the POS’S
Samantha Smith
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The owners don’t deserve Her!!who ties a loved one up!should be a criminal offence!to leave anything tied up during a disaster!
Kelly Jacobus
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why would you wanna give him back to people who left him behind…i dont give a rats$#%&!@*what the reason was, he could have died a painful death..
Pamela Ryan
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People knew this hurricane was coming for days!! Children, elderly and pets come first!!
Barbara Matthews
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They dont deserve the dog back
Yeah look for the owners to shame them and all the others that tied their dogs up and left them
Judy Fahs Hurd
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If they left her tied to drown then she needs a better home.
Sandra Roark
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The owners don’t deserve to get the dog back, it’s like leaving a family member tied up to fend for himself. Please find a good home for him, coz they don’t deserve to have him.
Lori Franklin Jacobson
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omg, find his owners ???? no way . they left him tied up to drown , find this beautiful dog NEW Owners .
Lori Franklin Jacobson
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omg, find his owners ???? no way . they left him tied up to drown , find this beautiful dog NEW Owners .
Judy Fahs Hurd
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I saw where one man put his dogs in a boat with food and water when he couldn’t take them along with his disabled child. Then he sent help back for them. At least he gave them a fighting chance.
Debbie Ocheltree Archambeau
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I wouldn’t let the owners have it back!!!!
Patricia Olmsted
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Doesn’t need old owners…needs new ones.
Ken Ung
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You need help to lock up the owners more like it! Cruel and selfish humans to leave a dog tied down during a major flood.
Espy Jimenez
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Why did they leave her.
Kari Feldman
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You’re going to return her to those who sentenced her to death???? She needs loving parents!!!
June More
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Cute Lil dog
Jenny Stembridge
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Don’t think the owner should get her back! If she lives tied up and was left , should be charged with animal cruelty
Dawn Elizabeth
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Playing devil’s advocate here…What if the owners were at work when$#%&!@*hit the fan and were unable to return to get her? It could very well be an accident, though highly unlikely
Carol Anne Clay
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poor little mite, why would anyone tie a dog up deliberatety ,knowing its fate will be sealed with the rising waters! unbelievable!
Greg Bowman
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Screw the original owners….find that dog a human owner…don’t send it back to the POS that tied it up to die!
Carol B. Goodman
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I hope they don’t give the dog back to them.
Elaine Green-Pereira
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Why give the dog back they l
Constance Shannon
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I read that owners would be prosecuted for tying dogs to anything leaving them to drown.
Christopher Spray
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I never said “a dog is a dog.”
Sigh… God bless you all.
Gabrielle Blakeman
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The owners should be charged if they are found and definitely not get their animals back. They took the time to tie them up they could just as easily put them in a car.