25 Miraculous Instances of Animals Saving Humans

23 year old Yvonne Vladislavich was sailing out in the Indian Ocean when her yacht exploded, sending her into shark infested waters. She swam there for a while before three dolphins came upon her. One dolphin allowed her to grab on and the other two swam circles around them watching for sharks. They eventually dropped her off at a buoy where a passing ship found her. The dolphins swam well over 200 miles just to save this woman.

When a local swimmer in Cape Town, South Africa swam out into open waters, despite flags being posted that there were sharks in the area, he was attacked by a shark and was losing blood fast. Two men risked their lives to swim out to him and rescue him but they discovered that there was a shark nearby, waiting for them. Just when they thought the shark would attack, a seal swam between the men and the shark. Then the seal continued to swim circles around them. On-lookers later said that the shark was keeping close and the seal stayed with the men the whole time until they reached the shore.

Back in 1996 a little boy fell almost 20 feet into a gorilla enclosure at a zoo. A female gorilla went to the young boy and carried him to a nearby door where rescuers were waiting. The gorilla was also carrying her own child on her back the whole time. Some credit the gorilla’s maternal instincts as to why the gorilla acted in this way.

After Toby’s owner Debbie started choking while eating an apple she tried to perform the heimlich maneuver on herself but eventually fell to the ground. In an effort to help Toby the golden retriever began jumping on his owner’s chest until the apple was dislodged. Once she was no longer choking Toby began licking her face to make sure she stayed conscious. 

Bandit the house cat usually patrolled the house at night in search of any “danger” outside the house. Whenever she would see anything she would meow at it for a while, usually it would just be another cat or animal outside. This is what Bandit’s owner thought until Bandit ran into the room and began pulling the covers off of her owner and clawing at his arm. Bandit’s owner went out to see what the fuss was about and discovered two robbers attempting to break into the house with a crowbar and a handgun. Seeing that the owner of the house was awake the robbers ran off.

A young boy lost his parents during a camping trip when his parent’s boat sank while they were fishing. The boy tried to make it to a nearby town but with the cold setting in and the sun going down he lay on the ground to sleep. He felt what he assumed was a dog snuggle up to him. In the morning he had three beavers snuggling close to him. They kept him warm all night in below freezing temperatures.

A 26 year old free diver was participating in a diving competition where they had to dive to the bottom of an arctic pool and remain there for as long as possible. Well the longer the diver was there the colder her legs got until she could barely kick her legs to swim back to the surface. Luckily some native beluga whales were nearby and just as the diver thought she was going to drown the whale came from underneath her and pushed her up to the surface.

When Kelsey’s owner slipped and fell in the snow in the Michigan wilderness he broke his neck and was paralyzed. Kelsey the golden retriever laid on top of her owner for 19 hours while trying to get the attention of anyone nearby. Eventually someone came upon them and helped save her owner.

One year old Booker West was splashing his hands in a birdbath in his grandparents backyard when a rattlesnake slithered up, rattled and struck towards the boy. Zoey the chihuahua however saw the rattlesnake and jumped in the way of the attack, taking the bites instead. They treated the bites as best they could and even though they didn’t think Zoey would survive, she made a full recovery and was completely fine.

The marine biologist Nan Hauser was diving off the coast of Muri Beach, Rarotonga when a massive humpback whale came upon her. The whale began bumping her with its head and trying to put her underneath its fin. Initially Nan thought the whale was trying to attack her but soon realized that the whale was in fact trying to save her from a tiger shark that was fast approaching. Nan let the whale place her beneath its fin and the whale took nan to safety narrowly avoiding the shark.

An 8 year old girl named Amber was on vacation in Thailand in 2004 and would always run down to the beach to see the elephants every morning. One morning she rode on Ning Nong the elephant’s back around the beach when the elephant got agitated and ran from the beach with Amber on its back. It was soon after that the infamous Boxing Day Tsunami hit the beachside. Ning Nong kept running from the shoreline even while the ocean surrounded them. Amber and Ning Nong both survived. The incredible story has even been made into a novel, play, and documentary. 

When a nineteen year old with bipolar disorder jumped from the golden gate bridge he went on record as saying he immediately regretted it. Miraculously he survived, all thanks to a sea lion. The sea lion kept the severely injured man afloat by continuously bumping the man up to the surface of the water. The man is just one of 33 people who have survived jumping from the golden gate bridge.

When a fire broke out in this family’s rental house it took great effort to get everyone out and most of the family was able to get out. They took account of the family and realized that their small infant had been left in the house. Seeing this the family dog, a pit bull named Blue, ran back into the burning house. Blue led the firefighters into the house and right to the infant who was stuck in her playpen.

A family’s 13 year old tabby cat named Baby saved her owners from a fire that started in their back room. The usually timid cat began jumping up and down on its sleeping owners in an attempt to wake them up. The owners eventually woke up, grabbed what they could, and fled the house. What’s even more amazing is that one of the owners was seven months pregnant with twins meaning Baby saved two babies and her owners. 

A week after being kidnapped by four men a twelve year old girl was saved from her kidnappers by three lions. The lions scared the men off and remained with the girl until the police arrived. A local wildlife expert believed that they didn’t harm the girl because her cries for help sounded much like a young lion cub in need.

When former U.S. Marine Terry McGlade had a seizure his pitbull Major called for help. Not by barking or yelping like any other dog. No, Major managed to get his owner’s phone out of his pocket and call 911 with his paws. Due to 911 thinking it was some sort of prank call, they kept hanging up. Major had to dial 911 not once not twice but ten times before they dispatched help.

Angel the 18 month old golden retriever threw herself between her 11 year old boy and a cougar that had gotten into the family’s backyard. The cougar and Angel fought underneath a deck while the rest of the family called the police. Luckily an officer was nearby and managed to kill the cougar before it could do fatal damage to Angel. Angel made a full recovery and stayed by the 11 year old boy’s side the whole time. 

Tommy’s owner uses a wheelchair and suffers from osteoporosis and balance issues due to mini strokes. One day Tommy’s owner fell out of his wheelchair and couldn’t get up. Usually he would use a medical alert necklace but it was out of reach and the man didn’t know what to do. Eventually the police did show up and found Tommy the cat lounging by the now open phone. Apparently Tommy had gotten to the phone and dialed 911 to alert the police to the shock of the on scene officer and Tommy’s owner. 

Robert Briggs was hiking along a familiar path when he came across a pack of black bears. He merely stopped to gaze at them for a minute when a mountain lion grabbed his legs and began to attack him. Just when he thought he was done for, a 400 pound black bear threw the mountain lion from the hiker, saving his life. The bear got on all fours, looked at Robert and walked off. Robert credits this to the fact that this bear had definitely seen him before and knew who he was.

Don’t worry. Lefty the dog lives. 

Four intruders broke into Lefty the pit bulls house and began to threaten her family with guns. When one of the intruders pointed the gun at her owner Lefty jumped in front of the bullet that would have hit her owner. The hospital that treated Lefty crowd funded her treatment for the family and got enough funding. Even though Lefty had to have one of her legs amputated her smile never faltered and she’s still very happy to this day.

Pit Bulls are such sweet dogs!

Lulu the pot bellied pig ran out into the road and played dead when her owner had a heart attack and needed help. Lulu broke through the backyard fence and ran to the road. Eventually someone stopped to check on Lulu and she led them to her hurt owner. They called the paramedics and Lulu’s owner was saved. Had Lulu’s owner been left there for another fifteen minutes she wouldn’t have survived. That’s one good pig!

Peanut is a dog that was rescued from an abusive home who ended up rescuing someone herself. Her owners were curious as to what could be wrong when she began frantically running around the house yelping and barking. When they finally let Peanut outside she ran straight to a three year old girl who was freezing outside in the cold. When the little girl finally came to all she said was “Doggie.”

Mrs. Villanueva with her daughter and two sons were on a boat that caught fire and sank out in the open ocean. While her daughter and sons were rescued Mrs. Villanueva drifted out to sea, getting stuck in a strong current. Reports say she floated out in the ocean for over 12 hours before she was able to grab onto what she thought was an oil drum. The oil drum turned out to be a large sea turtle that managed to get her to a rescue boat some time later. The turtle then circled the boat twice apparently making sure that their rider was safe and in good hands.

A lifeguard took his daughter and some of her friends swimming in New Zealand and they were soon surrounded by a ring of dolphins. The lifeguard said later that he sensed something was wrong with the dolphins and when they tried to break away from the dolphins who had now formed a ring around them the dolphins herded them back. It wasn’t soon after that the lifeguard saw a massive great white shark that was nearby. The dolphins protected the four of them from the shark until they reached the shore. 

Even though Norman the yellow retriever lost his eyesight years ago he still put himself in harm’s way to save a little girl that was drowning near the public beach that Norman and his owner ran at fairly frequently. Upon hearing the girl’s cries for help Norman dove into the ocean and swam to the little girl. He led her gently back to shore, saving her life.