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
Pat Drenowatz
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What makes people think that an animal would survive tied to a pole when they couldn’t??? Sheer stupidity-
Melanie Ackerman Barrett
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I’ll take her! Her owners don’t deserve to have her back! What…to tie her to another pole?
Shelly Quintana
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I’ll take her in a heart beat!
Darlene Hilton
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Precious furbaby needs a fotever home!
Lisa Powers
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Was just thinking the same thing. Let’s find her a loving home instead.
Sheila Hardy
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Please dont give her back to them -tied to a pole is a living hell to begin with and they didnt even think to untie her thats abuse they should be charged with animal cruelty…
Janice Smith
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Why are you looking for the owners is it to charge them with attempted murder?
Peter Hurtzer
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Why would you give the dog back to the people that left it to die? That’s just stupid. Find a better, loving home.
Lyn Perkins
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She certainly shouldn’t go back to the people who abandoned her!
Jessie Chan
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To find her owner? Are you serious? The owner left her to die!! She deserves better!
Michael Berger
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She needs new owners photo makes me sick
Beata Tarczon
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This dog needs to find new, normal family who is not going to leave him when problem come.
Lisa Cheramie
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Hell no!!!!! Don’t give that baby back to the owners…..unless you plan to tie the “owners” to a tree in a flooded area!!!
Vera Passaretti
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Thank you to her rescuer. Do not give back
Gmaam Miller
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Why do you think you should find the OWNERS ? After all they left her tied to a lost with no chance to survive
Anne Canter Bruckner
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Efforts should be focused on trying to find NEW owners, not on returning this dog to the owners who tied her up and left her to drown. Owners should be put in jail.
Donnie Diggs Ream
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Glad she was saved. she needs a better home than the people who left her out there.
Shirley Goodwin Glover
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This furbaby needs new loving owners that won’t leave him like chained like previous owners.
Yvonne Anja Carter
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I know I can’t understand what they are going through but just could never imagine leaving my dogs. There was a lady on tv that was staying in her flooded house because her neighbor that had a dry second floor wouldn’t let her bring her cats to her house.
Jessica Wheeler Evans
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Wait…WHAT???!!! She was tied up!!! WTF. Her owners don’t deserve her! What is wrong with you people??
Gmaam Miller
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Find that baby a good home with pet parents that will lover her
Gmaam Miller
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her
Fran Scott
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Find him a home where he will be loved and protected.
Melissa Dolukhanova
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Why should we find her owners?! If anyone does, they need to go to jail for not only abandoning her but also for leaving her tied up with no hope of escaping. Poor thing.
Jodena Hayes
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New owners needed!!!more loving ones
Shirley Billick
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Prayers his owners find him.
Andrea White
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People can be down right evil. How could anyone do that? Luckily there are many heroes down in Texas who are saving many sweet animals. Thank God for them!
Dorothy Riviera
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Thank you
Cindy Brown
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I’ll take her
Diane Korbel
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She needs new owners
Jeanette Savill
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awww lovely doggy good luck cwtches
Kerry Miller Takacs
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Last I heard this dog had a pending adopter. The owners do not deserve to have their dog back.
Lavon Meyers
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Are you kidding? She needs a new family that appreciates her.
Mae Bootsie Bowers Marcil
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The owners should not get any of the animals back. They abandoned them, unconcerned for their lives. If this man wants Lucky, there should be no one to stop him from giving her a loving CARING home.
Paul Sillwood
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I would have thought finding her owners was the last thing she needed, finding NEW owners is what she needs.
Sandy Pennington
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Poor baby. Looks so scared. He needs a new family.
Jeanie Williams
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Please don’t give back to old owners. They don’t deserve those babies!
Theresa Lucier Fay
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why return her to owners they left her to die tied yp
Kristy Garris
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Agreed
Deborah Corry
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Lily finds a great home! ❤️
Sharon Leach Rhodes
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I would FINE the owners and adopt out this pup!
Doreen Maness
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Lucky needs a better home than what she had!!! I wouldn’t give her back to someone who chained her up to possibly drown. They obviously were giving her a death sentence!!!
Cara Quillin
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The owners dont deserve her
Jan Shepherd-Shaw
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They didn’t take her in the first place. They need to be held accountable on animal endargerment
Jim Bryant
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Don’t find her owners. If they loved Lucky they wouldn’t have left him tied to a pole.
Ann Deptula
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Why find owners back leaving the dog how cruel
Jamie Garno Kittle
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I would have just taken her…forget them owners….forget the proper channels…the ‘owners’ weren’t proper ‘owner’s…forget them….
Deborah Case-bauman
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Why are they looking for the owners? they left her tied to a pole to drown. She needs a new home!!!!
Jody Lockaby
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May her owners (who left her to die a slow, agonizing death) ROT in HELL!
Patti Koenig Clark
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Her owners don’t deserve to have her back. They left her there to die!