Science says humans are the most intelligent living beings on this planet. And history is a proof that animals are the most pure-hearted. Animals don’t doubt their instincts and would follow them strongly which has resulted in the saving of many human lives. Dogs, cats, dolphins, and even gorillas have displayed a heroic spirit and breathed life back into human beings without an expectation for something in return. These unsung heroes deserve a loud mention.

The Talmud has a saying, “Whoever saves a life, saves the entire world.” Here are 10 heart-wrenching stories about times when animals saved human lives and thus, saved the world.

1 A cat named Masha saved a baby’s life after the long-haired, red tabby found an abandoned baby in a box in the snow. Masha climbed in to keep the baby warm and meowed to get the attention of a passerby leading to the baby’s rescue.

When a baby was abandoned and left on the cold streets of Obninsk City, Russia in a box with a few nappies and some food, Masha climbed into the box to keep the child warm and meowed as loud as she could. A local, long-haired, red, tabby cat, Masha was looked after by residents and is very friendly. When a passerby, Irina Lavrova, saw Masha meowing, she thought that the cat was injured as usually Masha would come and greet her. When she saw that a baby was in the box with the cat, she was shocked.

The baby was then taken to a hospital and was found to be healthy and fit. It was Masha who had saved her life. Because of this incident, the residents hailed Masha a hero. The residents gave her, her favorite food as a reward and the cat was very happy. (source)

2 At age 84, Dick Van Dyke was rescued by porpoises after he fell asleep while surfing and drifted out of sight of land.

Richard Wayne Van Dyke, fondly known as “Dick Van Dyke,” is the popular actor who starred in the film Mary Poppins. He once fell asleep while surfing. This is true as unbelievable as it may sound. He was 84 then.  What seemed like a usual surfing trip to the local beach became one of the most momentous incidents of his life.

Aboard his surfboard, Dyke fell asleep, and when he woke up, there was no sight of land. Suddenly, he saw some fins swimming around him, and he thought that he was going to die. But those fins were signs of life and belonged to the porpoises who pushed him to the shore and saved his life.  The actor talked about this incident on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and made it clear that he was not kidding about it. (source)

3 A newborn baby lay abandoned in the forest in Kenya for two days and was rescued by a dog who carried the infant to her own litter of puppies.

A baby girl, wrapped in an old and torn shirt was abandoned in a plastic bag in the Ngong Forest in Nairobi, Kenya. A nursing dog was looking for food in the forest when it found the baby. The dog carried the infant across a busy road, through a barbed fence, and put it with its litter of puppies.

A resident found the child with the litter of puppies after some people said they heard a baby crying. The baby was lying abandoned in the forest for two days before the dog found it and brought it to safety. The baby girl was in a bad condition when the doctors began treating her, but she got better. When the local residents came to know about the baby, they began bringing her nappies and clothes as gifts. Many babies suffer worse fates after being abandoned, and if it was not for the dog, this one would have too. (source)

4 Lulu the kangaroo was rescued as a joey by a farmer and his family. When a branch knocked the farmer unconscious, Lulu stayed with him and “barked” until the man’s family came, saving his life.

Lulu, was a baby when the Richards family rescued her from the pouch of her mother who had died. The baby kangaroo was found on their farmland in the state of Victoria’s southeast. When Lulu grew up, she did the same for Len Richards who was hit by a branch on their property in Tanjil South and fell down unconscious. When Lulu saw this, she began “yapping” loudly to attract attention as the place where Len had been knocked down unconscious was several hundred meters away from the house where the rest of the family was. The yapping of a kangaroo sounds similar to that of a dog’s bark.

Lulu’s yapping saved the farmer’s life. The Richards consider Lulu to be a part of their family. She was bottle-fed and taken care of by Len Richards’ son Luke when they rescued her. She is smart enough to knock on the door sometimes for a slice of bread or other food and is comfortable around the property of the family.  Lulu achieved a lot of fame and got a lot of treats for her heroic action. (source)

5 In 2004, a group of divers, lost in the Red Sea for over 13 hours, feared they would die before dolphins miraculously led rescuers to them.

Twelve divers belonging to different nationalities were on a holiday and went diving in the Red Sea. they were excited to see a hammerhead shark and a few grey reef sharks. They dived off al-Akhawain island at 9 a.m. After diving, they lost contact with their Egyptian diving boat Oyster. They drifted away so far due to the strong currents that even spotter planes and boats could not find them.  It is speculated that their surface marker buoy was not spotted because of the Sun and its reflection on the water.

When all else failed, it was dolphins who led a rescue boat named Thunderbird in their direction. The crew on the rescue boat told the divers that the dolphins were jumping across the front part of the boat in the direction the lost party of divers was in. The divers also heard the dolphins and felt that their echolocation drew the attention of the rescue boat to them. There have been several stories about dolphins helping humans in distress, and this was one of those. (source)

6 In 2012, a cat saved its owner’s life the night he was adopted. The owner got a diabetic seizure, the cat brought her back to consciousness, and then woke her son up by pouncing on his bed who then called for help.

When Amy Jung and her son stopped at a feline center to play with the cats, they had no idea that they would get too attached to two and adopt them. Pudding and his friend Wimsy both were adopted. This was one of the best decisions they made as on the same night, Pudding saved Amy’s life.

Amy, who has had diabetes since she was a kid, had a diabetic seizure in her sleep. When Pudding saw this, he sat on Amy’s chest, nudged and nipped at her face until she became somewhat conscious. This is when Amy made attempts to call out to Ethan for help, but her screams were not loud enough. Pudding ran to Ethan’s room, pounced on his bed until Ethan woke up and called for help. Without Pudding, Amy would not have survived the night felt the doctors who later treated her.

Pudding is now registered as a therapy animal who has learned to meow while sitting at Jung’s feet when he senses that her blood sugar is low. Cats are known to have great instincts. (source)

7  A cockatiel saved a man’s life when a fire broke out beneath his house. Andrew Hardiek was sound asleep when the cockatiel, Dylan, began squawking to wake him up and led to their unharmed escape.

A factory worker, Andrew Hardiek, was sleeping after completing his third shift at a factory in Avilla, Indiana. When a fire broke out beneath his house, Hardiek had no idea. His cockatiel, Dylan, began squawking loudly to wake him up, and when he woke up he saw the smoke and the flames. If it was not for the cockatiel, both the bird and the man would have died. Sadly, Hardiek’s house was completely destroyed in the fire.

The emergency crews later said that the if the bird had not acted, a much bigger tragedy would have happened. Dylan had begun squawking even before the smoke detectors had detected smoke to raise an alarm.  Hardiek told a news station after the tragedy, “Without Dylan waking me up, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.” (source)

8 A man and his 14-year-old dog Pete were hiking in New Jersey when a bear attacked the man. Pete faced the bear fearlessly, saved the man’s life and died a hero.

A 14-year-old English Setter dog named Pete gave his life while saving the life of a man who he lived with.  The man, Stephen Parisi, and Pete and some puppies went on a hiking trip to Monkville Reservoir in New Jersey, United States.  A black bear saw the intruders and attacked them. To save Parisi from the clutches of the bear, Pete threw himself into the fray and put up a fight.

As Pete tried to fight the best he could, Parisi took the other pups and tied them to the tree for their safety. He then went and scared the bear away, but Pete had sustained severe injuries by then. They took him to the hospital where it was revealed that the brave dog had serious spinal injuries which meant that if he could survive all the surgeries, he could never walk again. That is when Parisi and his wife had to decide to let him go. (source)

9 Ning Nong, an elephant, saved an eight-year-old girl from the tsunami in Thailand in 2004 by using its animal instincts and took her to safety.   

There are many stories that came out during the dangerous tsunami of 2004. One of the lesser-known ones is the story of four-year-old Ning Nong, the elephant, and Amber, an eight-year-old girl. In books, we read about elephants doing things that are heroic and magical, but Ning Nong did something heroic in reality. Amber Owen, a British girl who was eight then, was on a holiday to Phuket in Thailand and was riding on the back of the elephant when the tsunami struck.

Ning Nong, who was fond of Amber and would often wrap her into his trunk, was anxious when Amber began to ride on his back that day and refused to go towards the sea.  When a smaller tide struck the beach before the massive one, Ning Nong sensed the danger and began running inland as fast as he could. Even the mahout could not make him stop. He managed to carry Amber to safety when the huge wave struck, and despite the strong winds he kept moving. The elephant stopped near a small wall and let Amber get down when Amber’s mother spotted her. She then took her in arms and ran back towards their first-floor hotel room. In under ten minutes, before they got there, another huge wave struck the coast that swept away two ground-floor rooms of their hotel. If it was not for Ning Nong, Amber would have been swept away in the sea. (source)

10 In 1996, a female gorilla named Binti Jua saved the life of a three-year-old boy who fell into her enclosure by carefully carrying him to the door and saving him from any other approaching gorilla.

Binti Jua, a 30-year-old female lowland gorilla who lives in the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois, did something extraordinary in 1996 when she was only eight. A three-year-old boy climbed the wall of the gorilla exhibit and fell into her enclosure 24 feet below. He broke his hand as a result of the fall and suffered a long cut on his cheek.

The spectators were horrified and screamed as she walked towards the boy who was now unconscious. But she did not harm him, instead, began cradling him in her arms.  She was protective of the boy and saved him from other gorillas who were in the enclosure. When she heard the door of the enclosure open, she handed him over to the zookeepers. All this while the gorilla’s 17-month-old baby was on her back.  The incident gave Binti and the zoo a lot of media attention, and she was acclaimed as a heroine for her maternal instincts. (1, 2)