KETCHIKAN: Most have read or heard of heartwarming stories of beloved canine and feline companions who bravely rescued their human caregivers from all sorts of danger at the risk of their own lives. Take, for example, the case of Diamond, a normally quiet one-year-old pit bull of Darryl Steen of California, USA, whose loud barking woke up the father of two to discover that their living room was engulfed in flames. Fortunately, Diamond's timely alert enabled the entire family to escape unharmed. Stories of courageous animal friends who saved their human family members, sometimes even strangers, occurred all the time – and it just happened in the US city of Ketchikan, Alaska, last week, except this time a pet rabbit was the hero. In the early hours on Tuesday morning, September 13, a human caregiver was woken up by the scratching of her pet rabbit on her chest. Realizing that her house was full of smoke, the woman woke up her daughter and both safely escaped from the burning home. Luckily, both mom and daughter sustained no injuries. Sadly, however, the heroic rabbit succumbed to smoke inhalation and did not survive the ordeal. BM
