Rescue of Elderly Dog Wins Kayakers a PETA Award

For Immediate Release:
July 15, 2021

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

A Compassionate Action Award is on the way from PETA to three local kayakers—Jessica Rose, Josh Rose, and Shakira Sias—seen in a viral TikTok video rescuing a weary, limping, and bleeding dog they found on a muddy bank along the Chariton River.

The kayakers stopped to approach the shivering dog, named Ethyl, according to her tags, and called her guardian—who revealed that the 10-year-old dog had fled the sound of fireworks nearly a week prior. Offering food, water, and plenty of reassurance, the kayakers then traveled down the river with Ethyl for four hours, before reuniting her with her guardian.

“She’s a sweet girl,” rescuer Jessica Rose says in the video, since viewed over 130,000 times. “We were able to call her mom, who was so excited I could hear her screaming through the phone while my husband called.”

“Thanks to these heroes, this gentle dog can snuggle up with her family again,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “By issuing this well-deserved award, PETA celebrates these kayakers for springing into action and reminds everyone to protect dogs like Ethyl by avoiding fireworks.”

Every Independence Day (and anytime fireworks go off), animal shelters see a spike in lost dogs and cats who have fled the noise. Many animals panic and jump over fences, break chains, or even break through windows. Fireworks also cause wildlife to flee onto roads and into buildings or abandon their nests.

Each kayaker will receive a framed certificate and a box of delicious vegan cookies.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter,  Facebook, or Instagram.