Nah, My blog ain't turning into Animals' Farm. If you happened to be here, Mr. George Orwell.
A Story from 1998, another of the Football World Cup year.
Did You See LuLu the Pig?
A UK-based documentary production company is looking for people who witnessed a daring rescue at Sara's Campground. On August 4, 1998, Jo Ann Altsman’s life was saved by an unlikely hero. The Beaver Falls resident was vacationing with her husband, Jack, their dog, Bear, and their Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, Lulu, at Sara’s Campground, located near the entrance of Presque Isle State Park. That morning Jack left the couple’s trailer at 5 a.m. for a fishing excursion. When Jo Ann went to get out of bed later that morning, she felt disoriented and dizzy. She managed to force herself out of bed, but as she did she fell over. Jo Ann could not move, felt nauseous, and had severe pains in her arm and chest. Having suffered a heart attack 18 months prior to that August morning, Jo Ann knew exactly what was happening.
“I tried to scream for help but no one seemed to hear me,” says Jo Ann. “I managed to reach for my alarm clock and throw it through the window, but no one came. Bear and Lulu were just looking at me and whimpering. I was praying to God to take care of my family, and I kept saying to Lulu ‘go night-night, go lay down’ but she wouldn’t. Then she disappeared.”
Lulu, who had never previously left the confines of the yard at home, squeezed her way through the trailer’s doggy door and ran to the nearest road. In what seemed like a conscious act to attract help, Lulu, who weighed about 125 pounds at the time, lied in the middle of the road. When cars would swerve by the massive animal, Lulu would run back to the trailer to check on Jo Ann and then return to the road.
“Lulu would keep returning and then disappearing again,” says Jo Ann. “I had no idea what she was doing. With all the pain, ten minutes felt like a lifetime. Every time Lulu came back, I would try to get her to lie down, but she wouldn’t.” Forty minutes had passed since Jo Ann collapsed. “I thought to myself, this is it. It’s all over. I remember Lulu coming back, and I said for her to go as mummy was dying. She went off again, and I just shut my eyes and waited for the pain to go.”
In one last attempt to save her owner’s life, Lulu went back to the road, finally grabbing the attention of a man driving a flash convertible. He went over to Lulu, but as soon as he approached her, she got up and started to walk toward the trailer. Lulu kept walking, occasionally checking to make sure the man, who has never been identified, was following her. She led him right to the front door of the trailer.
“I heard a man calling from outside the door, saying Lulu was in distress,” says Jo Ann. “I managed to find enough energy to shout back ‘so am I! Please call an ambulance.’”
Realizing there was a problem, the man ran to the campground reception office and dialed 911. Jo Ann was rushed to the hospital, and Lulu, having cut the underside of her belly from squeezing in and out of the doggy door, was taken to a veterinarian. A few days later, Jo Ann was flown to the Medical Center in Beaver Falls for open-heart surgery. Doctors informed her that had another 15 minutes passed that morning, she would have died.
Lulu became a national celebrity and her story was front-page news in the New York Times. She also appeared on Live with Regis and Kathy Lee, 20/20, and Oprah. Recently, the exceptional story has grabbed the attention of Big Wave, an award-winning documentary production company based in the United Kingdom that makes science and wildlife documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic, and Discovery channels. They are currently working on a new series for Animal Planet and the British station Channel 5 that has the working title Animals Saved My Life. The series will look at seemingly altruistic acts by animals toward humans, drawing on the latest findings of the world’s leading behavioral scientists in an attempt to gain insight into the actions of animals.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| A Quick Word of Advice - Lulu | ||||
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Well, that' s sure a Smart Pig. Yap, cheers to all the Super Pigs!
Ehmnn, as a mark of respect after watching the documentary finally shown on local TV, I will stop eating pigs for a week. : )
