Rottweilerlvr
12-06-2006, 06:40 PM
Amazing story... I've always been fascinated with wolf-dogs.
Subject: Half-Breed Wolf Dog Hero Rescues Elderly Owners From
Snowstorm
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,234599,00.html
Half-Breed Wolf Dog Hero Rescues Elderly Owners From Snowstorm
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
By Liza Porteus
NEW YORK - When Eve and Norman Fertig rescued a sick, two-week-old
half wolf, half German shepherd puppy from a breeder almost seven
years ago, they'd never dreamed that the animal one day would save
their lives.
"God is watching; he's watching all the time," Eve Fertig told FOXNews
from her home at the Enchanted Forest Wildlife Sanctuary in Alden, N.Y.
He apparently was watching on Oct. 12, when the 81-year-old Fertigs
were treating injured animals in the forest sanctuary on their
property. One such animal is a near-18-year- old raven, while another
is a crow who was shot, blind in one eye with two broken legs.
It was routine for the couple to feed and exercise the dozen or so
animals there around 7 p.m. every night.
"While we're in there, the lights go out and I realized something's
wrong," Eve Fertig said. "We go outside to see what's happening and
down comes one massive tree . the trees came down across us."
The massive storm that hit upstate New York that night felled trees,
blocking the Fertig's path to the other sanctuary buildings - such as
the school and storage building - and to their home, which was at
least 200 feet away.
"We were in big trouble. . I said to my husband, 'I think we could die
out here,'" Eve said.
'The Most Heroic Thing I've Ever Seen'
The Fertigs huddled in a narrow alley between the hospital building
and the aviary, where they were sheltered from falling trees. They
couldn't climb over the trees without injuring themselves. Neither had
warm clothes on since it was a clear, crisp fall day just a few hours
ago. They hugged each other for warmth, since by 9:30 p.m.,
temperatures had dropped.
"I wasn't prepared for this . I thought, 'we're trapped, we're
absolutely trapped,'" Eve said. "That's when Shana began to dig
beneath the fallen trees."
The 160-pound dog that habitually follows her owners around - Eve
likens it to "Mary had a little lamb," when the lamb went everywhere
Mary went - eventually found the Fertigs and began digging a path in
the snow with her teeth and claws underneath the fallen trees, similar
to a mineshaft, and barking as if to tell them to follow.
A reluctant Norm said, "I had enough in Okinawa in a foxhole,"
referring to his service in World War II.
"'Norman, if you do not follow me, I will get a divorce,'" Eve said to
her husband of 62 years. "That did it. He said, 'a divorce? That would
scandal our family.' I said, 'all of our family is dead, Norman!'"
After Shana tunneled all the way to the house - a process that took
until about 11:30 p.m. - she came back, grabbed the sleeve of Eve's
jacket, and threw the 86-pound woman over her back and neck, which Eve
described as "as wide as our kitchen shelf."
Norman grabbed Eve's legs, and the dog pulled them through the tunnel,
under the trees and through an opening in a fence to the house, at
which they arrived around 2 a.m.
"It was the most heroic thing I've ever seen in my life," Eve said.
"We opened the door and we just fell in and she laid on top of us and
just stayed there and kept us alive . that's where we laid until the
fireman found us."
There was no electricity and no heat in the house, so Shana acted as a
living, breathing generator for the exhausted Fertigs until the local
fire department arrived the next morning.
Concerned neighbors - many of whom had children Eve taught - who
couldn't get hold of the elderly couple via telephone throughout the
night had called the Town Line Fire Department.
But when the fire department urged the Fertigs to go to the firehouse
to take shelter along with 100 others, they told them they would have
to leave Shana behind.
"We said, 'we don't go anywhere without her.' ... I said, 'we'll stay
until the people are gone and we'll take Shana,'" Eve said.
So the couple stayed at home with Shana until Sunday, when the
firehouse emptied out. During the three days in a house with no power,
heat or hot water, Shana slept with her owners to keep them warm.
"She kept us alive. She really did," Eve said.
Also during that time, firefighters not only helped clear trees from
their grounds, but they brought food and water for both human and animal.
"They kept looking at that tunnel and said, 'we've never seen anything
like it,'" she said. "I can't thank them enough - they're heroes."
When they went to the firehouse Sunday, Shana followed the Fertigs
everywhere, even to the bathroom. And she was 'spoiled rotten' by the
fire crews there, Eve said.
She said the fire chiefs said her story of being saved by her pet
rejuvenated exhausted fire teams. "The story, they said, just gave
them new hope."
A Lesson Learned
Last Thursday, Shana received the Citizens for Humane Animal
Treatment's Hero's Award for bravery - an award traditionally given to
humans. The plaque, complete with Shana's picture on it, hangs in the
Fertigs' living room, along with other pictures of wolves the couple
has worked with.
Eve, who teaches courses in Saving Endangered Species and Caring for
Injured and Orphaned Wildlife at community colleges and trains animal
rehabilitators in New York, said she hopes her story will help further
her message of humanity toward animals and educate people about how
even a wolf, if treated with care and dignity, can be a "kisser and a
hugger" like Shana.
"If you're vicious to a human being, they'll become fighters," Eve
said, but even wolves, "once you treat them right and raise them in
your house, they're magnificent. "
Eve has taught 400 adults to be wildlife rehabilitators. She and her
husband are volunteers who pay for their own teaching licenses and
caring for the sanctuary animals, out of their Social Security checks
every year.
"I've never been on a cruise and I don't shop and I haven't seen a
movie in two years," Eve said.
The only time the Fertigs go to the movies is, of course, when they
are submitting to a higher calling.
"What I do to get signatures for my petitions, I go to [a] movie
that's showing a wolf, horse or whale story," and she and her husband
camp out outside the theater and get petitions signed to help save
various animals, which they send along to wildlife organizations.
"I have a motto ... joint abilities don't create hostilities, " Eve
said. "I make it my business to talk to all groups, all
conservationists, all hunting clubs, to let them know what they're
missing out there."
Editor's Note: The Fertigs rely on food donations to help feed the
injured animals they try to rehabilitate at their Enchanted Forest
Wildlife Sanctuary in Alden, N.Y. They told FOXNews.com that the Oct.
12 storm completely wiped out their supply of food. The Fertigs would
welcome any donations. Please contact them at 716-681-5918 if you
would like to donate or volunteer.
Editor's Note II: After this story was published, Eve Fertig contacted FOXNews.com and said she received phone calls from all over the U.S. with people asking about Shana's story and how they can donate food for the Fertigs animals, toys for Shana, or money for their sanctuary. Mrs. Fertig asked that her address be published so people can send such items to them.
Their address is:
Mrs. Eve Fertig
Enchanted Forest Wildlife Sanctuary
11380 Cary Road
Alden, N.Y. 14004-9547
Subject: Half-Breed Wolf Dog Hero Rescues Elderly Owners From
Snowstorm
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,234599,00.html
Half-Breed Wolf Dog Hero Rescues Elderly Owners From Snowstorm
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
By Liza Porteus
NEW YORK - When Eve and Norman Fertig rescued a sick, two-week-old
half wolf, half German shepherd puppy from a breeder almost seven
years ago, they'd never dreamed that the animal one day would save
their lives.
"God is watching; he's watching all the time," Eve Fertig told FOXNews
from her home at the Enchanted Forest Wildlife Sanctuary in Alden, N.Y.
He apparently was watching on Oct. 12, when the 81-year-old Fertigs
were treating injured animals in the forest sanctuary on their
property. One such animal is a near-18-year- old raven, while another
is a crow who was shot, blind in one eye with two broken legs.
It was routine for the couple to feed and exercise the dozen or so
animals there around 7 p.m. every night.
"While we're in there, the lights go out and I realized something's
wrong," Eve Fertig said. "We go outside to see what's happening and
down comes one massive tree . the trees came down across us."
The massive storm that hit upstate New York that night felled trees,
blocking the Fertig's path to the other sanctuary buildings - such as
the school and storage building - and to their home, which was at
least 200 feet away.
"We were in big trouble. . I said to my husband, 'I think we could die
out here,'" Eve said.
'The Most Heroic Thing I've Ever Seen'
The Fertigs huddled in a narrow alley between the hospital building
and the aviary, where they were sheltered from falling trees. They
couldn't climb over the trees without injuring themselves. Neither had
warm clothes on since it was a clear, crisp fall day just a few hours
ago. They hugged each other for warmth, since by 9:30 p.m.,
temperatures had dropped.
"I wasn't prepared for this . I thought, 'we're trapped, we're
absolutely trapped,'" Eve said. "That's when Shana began to dig
beneath the fallen trees."
The 160-pound dog that habitually follows her owners around - Eve
likens it to "Mary had a little lamb," when the lamb went everywhere
Mary went - eventually found the Fertigs and began digging a path in
the snow with her teeth and claws underneath the fallen trees, similar
to a mineshaft, and barking as if to tell them to follow.
A reluctant Norm said, "I had enough in Okinawa in a foxhole,"
referring to his service in World War II.
"'Norman, if you do not follow me, I will get a divorce,'" Eve said to
her husband of 62 years. "That did it. He said, 'a divorce? That would
scandal our family.' I said, 'all of our family is dead, Norman!'"
After Shana tunneled all the way to the house - a process that took
until about 11:30 p.m. - she came back, grabbed the sleeve of Eve's
jacket, and threw the 86-pound woman over her back and neck, which Eve
described as "as wide as our kitchen shelf."
Norman grabbed Eve's legs, and the dog pulled them through the tunnel,
under the trees and through an opening in a fence to the house, at
which they arrived around 2 a.m.
"It was the most heroic thing I've ever seen in my life," Eve said.
"We opened the door and we just fell in and she laid on top of us and
just stayed there and kept us alive . that's where we laid until the
fireman found us."
There was no electricity and no heat in the house, so Shana acted as a
living, breathing generator for the exhausted Fertigs until the local
fire department arrived the next morning.
Concerned neighbors - many of whom had children Eve taught - who
couldn't get hold of the elderly couple via telephone throughout the
night had called the Town Line Fire Department.
But when the fire department urged the Fertigs to go to the firehouse
to take shelter along with 100 others, they told them they would have
to leave Shana behind.
"We said, 'we don't go anywhere without her.' ... I said, 'we'll stay
until the people are gone and we'll take Shana,'" Eve said.
So the couple stayed at home with Shana until Sunday, when the
firehouse emptied out. During the three days in a house with no power,
heat or hot water, Shana slept with her owners to keep them warm.
"She kept us alive. She really did," Eve said.
Also during that time, firefighters not only helped clear trees from
their grounds, but they brought food and water for both human and animal.
"They kept looking at that tunnel and said, 'we've never seen anything
like it,'" she said. "I can't thank them enough - they're heroes."
When they went to the firehouse Sunday, Shana followed the Fertigs
everywhere, even to the bathroom. And she was 'spoiled rotten' by the
fire crews there, Eve said.
She said the fire chiefs said her story of being saved by her pet
rejuvenated exhausted fire teams. "The story, they said, just gave
them new hope."
A Lesson Learned
Last Thursday, Shana received the Citizens for Humane Animal
Treatment's Hero's Award for bravery - an award traditionally given to
humans. The plaque, complete with Shana's picture on it, hangs in the
Fertigs' living room, along with other pictures of wolves the couple
has worked with.
Eve, who teaches courses in Saving Endangered Species and Caring for
Injured and Orphaned Wildlife at community colleges and trains animal
rehabilitators in New York, said she hopes her story will help further
her message of humanity toward animals and educate people about how
even a wolf, if treated with care and dignity, can be a "kisser and a
hugger" like Shana.
"If you're vicious to a human being, they'll become fighters," Eve
said, but even wolves, "once you treat them right and raise them in
your house, they're magnificent. "
Eve has taught 400 adults to be wildlife rehabilitators. She and her
husband are volunteers who pay for their own teaching licenses and
caring for the sanctuary animals, out of their Social Security checks
every year.
"I've never been on a cruise and I don't shop and I haven't seen a
movie in two years," Eve said.
The only time the Fertigs go to the movies is, of course, when they
are submitting to a higher calling.
"What I do to get signatures for my petitions, I go to [a] movie
that's showing a wolf, horse or whale story," and she and her husband
camp out outside the theater and get petitions signed to help save
various animals, which they send along to wildlife organizations.
"I have a motto ... joint abilities don't create hostilities, " Eve
said. "I make it my business to talk to all groups, all
conservationists, all hunting clubs, to let them know what they're
missing out there."
Editor's Note: The Fertigs rely on food donations to help feed the
injured animals they try to rehabilitate at their Enchanted Forest
Wildlife Sanctuary in Alden, N.Y. They told FOXNews.com that the Oct.
12 storm completely wiped out their supply of food. The Fertigs would
welcome any donations. Please contact them at 716-681-5918 if you
would like to donate or volunteer.
Editor's Note II: After this story was published, Eve Fertig contacted FOXNews.com and said she received phone calls from all over the U.S. with people asking about Shana's story and how they can donate food for the Fertigs animals, toys for Shana, or money for their sanctuary. Mrs. Fertig asked that her address be published so people can send such items to them.
Their address is:
Mrs. Eve Fertig
Enchanted Forest Wildlife Sanctuary
11380 Cary Road
Alden, N.Y. 14004-9547