Heroic Animal-People Stories: Part 7 of a Multi-part Series

In 1992, young Ryan Patton and his father, Derek, went into the Rocky Mountain National Forest of Colorado, United States, and got separated. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw that there were two large elk nearby. Finally, they did something that goes against the very nature of wild animals. “They laid close enough to him, all night, to keep him warm. And that is how he survived.”

On December 26, 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake sent tsunamis tearing through coastal Asia. Suddenly, a pod of dolphins began to swarm their boats. “My heart was pounding, and I realized like, ‘Hey, they are saying something to us.’ I signaled to the captain to ‘Please follow the dolphins!’ We realized that the dolphins were leading us away from the islands.” All the boats returned home safely on that fateful December day.

“An oven mitt left on the toaster caught fire late last night, while five people were asleep in this Bartow home.” “The cat, Gizmo, had her front paws up on the cushion and her head right by my ear just meowing.” “I’ve never heard of this ever in my life that a cat would save the day, but she certainly did. She saved us all.”

The 1200-pound bison-nanny takes care of every animal on this farm. And she does it completely blind. She grooms and nurtures newborns as if she birthed them herself. “We let Oliver into the field with her and she just, it was like this maternal instinct.”