Achi news desk-
A Calgary dog owner is praising a complete stranger for braving the icy waters of the Bow River to rescue her lost puppy.
Chewie, a four-year-old chihuahua, went missing from his owner’s workplace in Bridgeland on April 20. Owner Ashley Ilinksy organized a search party, put up missing posters daily and posted them on social media.
“There are probably 50 people looking for it,” he said. “And he had almost a thousand shares on Facebook.”
But after several days without Chewie, she feared the worst – she would never see him again.
“It was just four days of hell,” he said. “We were missing our little baby.”
A dog rescued from the Bow River.
Ilinsky then heard that a witness had seen Chewie crossing busy Memorial Avenue towards the river. That’s where Malia Jackson saw him. She got out of her car to get the dog before the current could get him first.
Jackson, who lives in the Didsbury area, told Global News that the current was strong and the rescue was touch-and-go, but she was happy to be able to pull the dog out of the water.
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“I’m not a hero,” he said. “I just happened to be in the right place, at the right time.”
“A complete stranger. Woman from out of town. Never met her. Don’t know her,” Ilinsky said. “She went into the Bow River, the freezing cold water, to save a stranger’s dog.”
Jackson said she waited around to see if Chewie’s owners would show up but then decided to take him to an emergency vet because he was really “trying to survive.” A few days later she was notified of the Facebook messages informing her that the dog was missing and had a loving family.
He then contacted Ilinsky to let her know that Chewie was safe.
“I think I have your little boy,” Jackson told Ilinsky.
Jackson then delivered Chewie back to Calgary and back to Ilinsky who offered her a monetary reward or one of Chewie’s recent offspring.
“She wanted nothing,” Ilinsky said. “I even said I can pay for the vet bill because you brought him to the vet for me – nothing.”
“She’s a hero. She is amazing. I believe she was sent from heaven.”
& copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
