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
Angel Pw
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So happy this dog was rescued. I hope you find a good furever home
Linda Dabros
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They need to be found because they left him tied up to drown
Loretta Lyons
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If you enlarge the photo, it looks like a branch, not a rope. I don’t think she was tied to the pole.
Mary Verrilli
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Agreed!!
Lynne Poole
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Awesome but karma to who did that to u hope they are found and punished but bless the one who rescued u!!
Jennifer Simpson
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Owners should never get her back. Needs loving kind people to help give her love through the trauma.
Audreia Mc Nickol
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Are you sure this is a logical move? I mean they left this poor baby tied up to die! What about that says he is cared for propely let alone valued?
Emmalee Newbatt
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That’s the first thing I thought as well. I wouldn’t return her to that kind of treatment.
Krystyna Piton Conway
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Me too. I’ll take him.
Gail L. Glenn Hogan
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Let him go to a new home. Owners left him tied up during a storm where major flooding was inevitable. He deserves better.
Glorialee Anderson
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This dog needs to be adopted by a loving responsible family not back to the monsters who left it tied up!!!
Jenny Manuel
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My sentiments are the same, keep her away!
Suzy Gifford
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Why give him back to owners, they left him to die! I don’t care what the excuse is, at least untie him and give him a chance! But No they left him tied up to die, THEY DON’T DESERVE HIM!
Mary Claypool
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They don’t deserve to get it back
Deborah Geyer
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Bingo! Well said!
Dixie Roop
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Please tell me they are being found for the reason of consquences and not returning this dog to them!
Debra Staples
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That’s what I was thinking, charity!
Deborah Geyer
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You go girl! Me too!
Brenda Smoke
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Stop judging! We weren’t there!!! Sending prayers, they may be terrified that they won’t see him again!
Gabby Naethuys
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Poor thing
Aly Jay Suarez
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Find this dog a new loving family! Not reunite with the people who left him to die!
Kim Cichocki
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I’d like to see Lucky go to some new caring loving owners. ❤️
Tim Whipple
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I would have no problem, repeat no problem tying this dogs former owner to a pole above a fire ant mound and then starting a lawn mower next to the mound and leave it until it runs out of gas. That would be for starters.
Karen Morris
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They left her out in the flood waters chained up !!!!!!!
Daniel De La Cerda
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Jose De la Cerda
Geena Davis
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Tristin D. Pflug my dogs are family members. I don’t care what the situation is, you don’t leave a family member behind and tied up. I have no problems with judging them.
Gwen Mitchell
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My two pug babies….they go where I go…always! Would never, ever leave them behind tied to a pole!
Joan Stoops
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Well. She was found tethered to a pole. Her owners knew the hurricane was coming and still left her there. She is tethered high up on a telephone pole. She can’t really go anywhere tethered like that. I doubt your Devils advocate idea that they went to work thinking they would get back to her.
Teri Teri
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New responsible, caring owners!
Terri Reinbach-Bucyk
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Why was she tied to a tree?
Deborah Geyer
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Hallelujah!!!
Magda Velez
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Owners ? No way
Linda Ålfrey
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Please don’t give her back to her owners. They left her for dead
Dave Pearson
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f**k her owners get someone that deserves her.
Daniel Tran
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Looking for the owners to give the dog back? Wtf are you stupid?! Locate the owners so you can prosecute them for animal cruelty. God, how stupid is America becoming. What a damn shame to you soft hearted rookies.
Deborah Geyer
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Couldn’t have said the beginning sentence Any Better!!’
Catherine Sansone-Shade
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The owners didn’t want her to begin with or they would have had her with them not tied up. She needs loving parents
Lindsay Nicole
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The owners don’t deserve lucky back. You own a dog and you don’t leave it behind to die! I will adopt her!
Dave Pearson
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Only way they would get me out of there without my dog is in a body bag.
Deborah Geyer
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Exactly!
Ann Terry
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This dog deserves people who would never leave her behind.
Barb Tuscan Morgin
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Why look for the owners. They left lucky behind. Find a good home for him
Paul Godin
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I will drive and get him from Ontario. Let me know where and how,
Kim Laskey
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I mean clearly the POS owners tied her up outside during a hurricane. Pretty sure it’s clear what they think of her… thank God for her rescuers!!!
Sab Smith Shepherd
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What the$#%&!@*is it with Amerifats, that they just “forget” about their animals in times of crisis…??
Absolutely disgusting indictment on U.S. character and integrity…
Lisa Santucci
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I hope this dog finds a new home with loving owners!
Sharon Duffy
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Yeah. They abandoned her to drown in the flood!! I say find her a good home where they will love her and make up for the creeps that left her there all alone tied to that pole to die.
Carmen Mendez
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Let me get her.
Deborah Geyer
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We all may severely disagree on politics sometimes, but when it comes to caring for/rescuing of pets I see(at least on this web), a lot of caring, kind, loving humans. Cheers to you all! There still is Humanity out there, with a capital ‘H’!
Debra Montgomery
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Please do not give this precious creature back to the monster that did this.