Animals Show Human-like Compassion in Rescuing Tsunami Victims

By the Los Angeles News Group (Originally in English)

In various countries stricken by the 2004 Asian and East African Tsunami, animals demonstrated their innate intelligence and love for humans by rescuing many people who would otherwise have perished in the disaster.

For example, at a beach resort in Phuket, Thailand, an area especially hard hit by the Tsumani, an elephant saved several children on a beach when the tidal wave struck. The animal had been brought to entertain children, but when nature unleashed its wrath, the elephant's keeper hoisted many youngsters up onto its back, and then walked them off to safety. (Please refer to:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1310876/posts )

In another case, an Indonesian woman in tsunami-ravaged Aceh Province saved her own life and those of her neighbor's children as a giant snake guided her through the flood waters. Riza, a clothes seller from the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, said she initially watched helplessly as the tsunami destroyed her home. Then as she was carried out of her house she was dragged toward her badly injured neighbor, who was struggling to hold on to her nine-year-old twins. "Please save my twins. Just let me go, as long as they're safe," Riza recalled the mother saying. Riza then placed the children on her back, and as she fought through the torrent saw a snake the size of a telephone pole gliding with the water current toward a bank. "Strangely I felt no fear," Riza said, adding that she followed the snake to safety. "Thank God, with the power I had left, I managed to go to higher ground." (Please refer to: http://www.command-post.org/nk/2_archives/018357.html )

In an even more dramatic instance from Pondicherry in southeastern India, a family dog saved the life of a seven-year-old boy as the tsunami swept over their village. As the rest of his family scrambled to escape the incoming wave, the boy did not follow but instead ran to the safest place he knew—a concrete hut just 40 yards from shore. With sea water lapping at the family's heels as they rushed up a hill to safety, their scruffy yellow dog Selvakumar ducked into the hut after the boy. Nipping and nudging, the dog urged the child up the hill. "That dog grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and dragged me out," the child said. The boy's mother wept with joy when she saw her son walking toward her with Selvakumar at his side. "That dog is my God," she exclaimed. (Please visit: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/02/world/main664271.shtml )

Such episodes of animal bravery, love and awareness reinforce the fact that our fellow creatures are full of God's divine energy and capable of great compassion just as we humans are.

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Medan Daily News, Indonesia
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Animals Show Human-like Compassion in Rescuing Tsunami Victims
Post-Disaster Despair is Transformed into Hope

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