by, Thad Abel
The facts of the story are taken from
Animal Planet/Discovery USA on September 10, 2013
Brandy Arnold, Front Page News, September 11, 2018
Ten-thousand emergency workers and 300 dogs risked their lives in rescue efforts caused by the devasting attack on American in Manhattan. The handlers and their highly trained dogs, searched, comforted and led owners to safety. Three thousand people and one dog died because of this horrific act. This blog is in honor of those hero dogs on that tragic day of September 11, 2001. There was Bretagne (Britnee) along with her owner, fire fighter, Denise Corliss who helped with rescue and recovery. Riley, a golden retriever, was trained to find live people. Labrador retrievers, Coby and Guinness who searched 12 hours each day for 11 days for a nap and a chew toy. There was also Appollo and his handler, Peter Davis, Thunder and handler Kent Olson. Sage, Trakr, and Jake are others to name just a few of the hero dogs of 911. The following are amazing stories of two hero dogs, Roselle and Sirius.
Roselle
Michael Hingson, blind since birth, was working on the 78th floor of the Twin Towers. Suddenly, the building shook and Michael thought it was an earthquake as he felt the building move to one side. He was sure that life would be over for him and his best friend, a guide dog, named Roselle. He was surprised, however, that the building seemed to come back in place, vertical, again. He was also surprised that Roselle was just sitting, yawning and wagging her tail. Michael knew, however, that something terrible was wrong. Michael and Roselle worked well as a team and since Roselle did not show anxiety this was the best time to evacuate in an orderly way. Michael was one who never let his blindness prevent him from overcoming obstacles, but he would need help from Roselle to lead him down the stairs. Michael harnessed Roselle and they went out into the stairwell where there was panic and people scrambling down the stairs. As difficult as it was, Michael had to focus on Roselle and keep encouraging her. It was important that Michael stayed calm because if he was nervous then Roselle would stop and look at him and she would become afraid. Despite smoke and water filling the stair wells, miraculously, Michael and Roselle made it down to the first floor where they met law enforcement who directed them to the exit. When they were finally out safely Michael hugged Roselle and tears of joy came bubbling forth! Michael and Roselle were one of the lucky ones!
Sirious
Lt. David Lim and his yellow lab dog Sirious worked in security and their job each day was to check trucks for bombs and clear the way for VIP’s. In the morning, David overheard on the radio that there were explosions. He told Serious that they were going to be in a lot of trouble because something must have slipped past them. Since Serious is a bomb sniffing dog and not a rescue dog Lt. Lim thought it was best to put Sirious back in her cage which is located on the basement level of tower one. Lt. Lim then went up to the tower to help people get down the stairs. When Lt. Lim got up to the 44th floor he finds out that the other tower had collapsed. He knew that it was just a matter of time before this tower would collapse, too. Soon, with loud sounds and the building collapsing, in a moments time Lt. Lim found himself covered with debris. It all happened in about 10 seconds and then there was silence. He coughed and told himself, “Dead men don’t cough! I am alive!”. However, Lt. Lim began thinking about Sirious and felt terrible because he knew that most likely he had died and was buried beneath the rubble. Lt. Lim was trapped for several hours but miraculously he was rescued. Days later, rescue workers called Lt. Lim and told him they found a body with his shirt covered over it. When he went down to check out the body bag he discovered that the body was not a human but a dog. It was Sirious, covered by Lt. Lim’s shirt during his last moments. Sirious was the only dog out of 300 rescue dogs who died. When the fire fighters and the rescue workers lifted Sirious out they turned off the equipment, took their hard hats off, bowed their heads and said a prayer. This was the same procedure they did for each human being, as well. When the mess was cleaned up at ground zero they held a ceremony. They gave a special salute to Sirious and presented to Lt. Lim a water bowl used by Sirious which had a special remembrance engraved. You can visit the Lower Manhattan Battery Park, where you can see the Sirious Dog Run, built and maintained by the City of New York.