This is a true story that happened last week in the Exumas, however I have removed the names for privacy reasons. The injured is a 5-6 year old shepard mix. From one of the owners:
For those of you involved and aware of the situation, thank you once again for your help and concern. The "Dog" is doing well; she is still on antibiotics and pain medication, stitches to come out this Friday.
For those of you not yet aware, "Dog" was involved in a life-threatening incident on Wednesday, April 21 while in the Exumas, Bahamas on vacation with us.
While exploring the creek at Compass Cay the "Dog" went after a Stingray that was on the bottom in about 4 inches of water. The Stingray thrust its barb into her throat slicing it severely and puncturing her juggler vein and causing severe pain. By the amount of blood spurting from her neck we were afraid it was an artery, thank God it was not. In route to Staniel Cay for medical aid she experienced additional blood loss, extremely high heart rate, and shivering. Partially due to blood loss and partially due to the venom.
Due to the combined efforts of those coming to her aid plus a stroke of logistical luck we were able to have her in an airplane within 20 minutes of arrival at Staniel Cay, about 45 minutes after the incident. We were able to take her directly into surgery in Nassau upon arrival at the animal hospital about an hour later, although during the plane trip we questioned whether she would make it as her heart beat went from very rapid to very slow during the trip.
We would like to send our heartfelt thanks once again to the following individuals, who without their help "Dog" most likely would not be with us today:
Friends Names Removed
Nurse Name removed on Staniel Cay
Names removed of Staniel Cay
Names removed of Staniel Cay – Name removed aborted his commencing flight from Staniel Cay to Great Guana Cay to fly us to Nassau!
Name removed of Nassau
Dr. Removed of Animal Hospital in Nassau
Pilot Name removed of Nassau
God Bless all of you.
*****
After sending the owner a message, he replied with:
*****
Yes, she has already been called Lucky "Dog". Not so lucky for her though, no more Bahamas trips, can't take the chance.
We did not know any of those people, nor did they know us. They helped out of the goodness of their hearts.
One caveat to that, later when we ran into the pilots wife she told me when she heard it was "Dog" she did everything she could. Guess "Dog" is more well known than we realized.
I found this to be a very heart warming story! I too would like to say thanks to all involved, the owners' and "Dog" are very dear to me and my family.