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While Running for his Life, Heroic Stranger Stops to Save Young Girl from Deadly Bronx Fire
During the horrifying Bronx apartment fires that occurred Sunday, Jan. 9, Fatima Wood was trying to get herself and her two children out of the building, struggling to escape their 19-story apartment building as it was being overwhelmed with smoke and flames. A neighbor that they had never met before approached them in the stairwell, offering to help them down from the ninth floor. Then, the neighbor quickly grabbed Wood’s three-year-old daughter and continued running down the stairs. “As soon as I got down, the kid was cold, she didn’t have enough clothes. So I took off my jacket and I wrapped her in my jacket,” said the neighbor, Mahamed Keita. “I was sitting down, shaking. People were just going through, they couldn’t breathe, they were performing CPR, cardiac arrest. I’ve never seen something like it, so I was just shaking the whole time.” Keita and the three-year-old girl were already in an ambulance en route to the hospital by the time Wood and her other child were able to make it out of the building. On Sunday night, the family was reunited once everyone was released from the hospital. “I cried all day, even when we got here [to the hospital] and we finally see her, I was still crying because it’s so traumatizing,” Wood said of her daughter. Keita added: “I was just trying to do the right thing. Everybody was struggling, lots of people lost their lives, I was just trying to do the right thing.” Wood said she cannot wait to see Keita to express her gratitude. Image source: Times New Express

Dog Missing for Four Months Rescued From Snowy California Hillside, Reunited with Owner
In late August, Ricardo Rodriguez was camping near Lake Tahoe with four of his friends and his three-year-old pitbull-mix, Russ. Russ ran away from the group after being frightened by someone. Rodriguez and his friends spent hours searching for the pup and eventually called local shelters to report him missing. As days passed, the Caldor Fire began to engulf the area and the community faced a mandatory evacuation. Rodriguez was forced to leave without his beloved Russ. "After months of not hearing back from anyone, I assumed he was in good hands with a different owner," Rodriguez told CNN, "I was hopeful that one day he would return." Then, on Dec. 16, a skier near Twin Peaks, just west of South Lake Tahoe, stumbled across a dog that was covered in snow. The El Dorado County Animal Services worker was not able to get to the dog, so they notified Wendy Jones, founder and executive director of Tahoe PAWS & TLC 4 Furry Friends, a non-profit that specializes in finding lost or missing dogs. Jones sent out two volunteers, Leona Allen and Elsa Gaule, to start the rescue mission. As the women headed up the mountain, they found a set of tracks in the snow that led them to the foot of a tree. That is when Russ perked his head up. "I was about halfway up the hill and I heard Leona start yelling," Gaule told CNN, "At first I wasn't sure what she was yelling about, but she said, 'Elsa I found him and he's alive!'" Russ was afraid of the women at first, so they gently approached him. "I took my hand and put it under his chin, and he rested his head on my hand right away," Gaule said. They wrapped Russ in blankets and brought him to safety. He was transported to the vet, where it was determined he was completely healthy. "Dogs go into survival mode," said Jones. "They're super strong and super smart ... it's like a light switch goes off in their brain and survival mode kicks in." Using a microchip, Russ’ owner was located and informed about his dog’s location. "I was ecstatic," Rodriguez said. "I was looking forward to helping my dog find his way back home." Image source: CNN, KMOV4

Animals Laugh Too! UCLA Study Finds ‘Vocal Play Signals’ in at Least 65 Species
In an article published Bioacoustics, an international peer-reviewed journal devoted to animal sounds, primatologist and UCLA anthropology graduate student Sasha Winkler and UCLA professor of communication Greg Bryant dive into the phenomenon of laughter in the animal kingdom. As Winkler and Bryant looked through existing scientific literature regarding animal play behavior, scouring for mentions of vocal play signs. They successfully found vocal play behavior in at least 65 species, including domestic cows, rats, foxes, dogs, seals, three bird species and more. “This work lays out nicely how a phenomenon once thought to be particularly human turns out to be closely tied to behavior shared with species separated from humans by tens of millions of years,” Bryant told UCLA Newsroom. Humans are unlikely to recognize animal laughter, and vocal play signals are “usually inconspicuous,” said Bryant. The researchers searched for indicators such as whether the sounds were noisy or tonal, loud or quiet, short or long, singular or rhythmic. “When we laugh, we are often providing information to others that we are having fun and also inviting others to join,” Winkler said. “Some scholars have suggested that this kind of vocal behavior is shared across many animals who play, and as such, laughter is our human version of an evolutionarily old vocal play signal.” Image source: UCLA Newsroom

Donkey at Texas Rescue Named ‘Betty White’ After the Late Actress and Longtime Donor
Betty White had been a consistent donor to the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue in San Angelo, Texas since 2006. After the death of the beloved actress, the rescue decided to name a newborn donkey — born on Christmas Day — after White, in honor for her generous contributions throughout the years. “The donkey was born Dec. 25. We lost the real Betty White on New Year's Eve and so it instantly came to us that she was gonna be Betty. Betty White had been a donor of Peaceful Valley since 2006. She was a huge animal lover. So we lost not only a donor but an animal advocate all around the world." said owner Mark Meyers. Mark and Amy Meyers initially started the rescue as a hobby, operating out of their backyard more than a decade ago. Now, the rescue sits on 172 acres of land with approximately one thousand donkeys on property and more than 30 employees. “We’re a 501(c)(3) organization and we rely on the people for donations. I hope everybody remembers Peaceful Valley and donates to the donkey's and support little Betty White Jr. here," he said. Shortly after her death, the “Betty White Challenge” went viral on social media to encourage people to donate at least $5 to an animal shelter or rescue. Peaceful Valley will also be naming their newly constructed nursery after White. Image source: Yahoo, GoSanAngelo

Anonymous Shopper Gifts Boy Iconic Guitar After Seeing Him Visit Store to Play It
A young boy named Fallon would visit the J.B. Hart Music Co. store in Grand Junction, Colorado frequently in order to play what he referred to as the “Pantera” guitar, or the Dean Dimebag Darrell ML Guitar. Fallon suffers from Williams Syndrome, a developmental disorder that is present at birth and can cause a variety of medical problems. Eight months ago, a shopper noticed Fallon playing the guitar, and took note of how talented he was. The shopper, who has asked to remain anonymous, asked the store if they could purchase the guitar for Fallon and have the workers give it to him the next time he visited. However, several months passed with no sign of Parker. According to a Facebook post, the workers “tried finding him to no avail.” Over the holidays, Fallon and his family finally came to the store and explained that they moved to Texas and were back visiting family in the area. When the workers gave Fallon his dream guitar, he “beamed with excitement” while his mother burst into tears. The store said that the emotional exchange was a “special moment” and that “there are still good people in this world.” “I got the Pantera guitar!” exclaimed Fallon. Image source: Facebook / J.B. Hart Music Co., Inc.

23-Year-Old Colorado Woman Rescues Three Children From Icy Pond
Dusti Talavera, 23, was inside her Denver apartment watching three children play outside in a frozen pond. When she looked outside again, she saw the children fall in. “Just looking out my window saw a couple kids walking on the ice pond, a few seconds later, I just saw them fall in,” Talavera said. “Before I even realized it, I was out there on the middle of the pond pulling two kids out. That’s when I fell in.” Talavera pulled two of the children — an 11-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl — from the icy waters, but as she attempted to rescue the third — a 6–year-old girl — she fell into the 15-foot-deep pond. The young girl’s 16-year-old cousin brought a rope to pull Talavera and the last child out of the water. “I tried to hold her head up, I tried to hold my head up, the pond was really deep. A young man threw us a rope. He pulled us out,” Talavera said. The 6-year-old girl was unconscious and had no pulse when deputies arrived on the scene. Deputy David Rodrigues removed her coat and began chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Two other deputies also assisted in life-saving CPR. The girl was taken to Children’s Hospital breathing and with a pulse. She is currently in stable condition. "Putting her life at risk for the kids to make sure that they could make it another day is amazing," Deputy Blaine Moulton said. Image source: Yahoo Finance

Florida Deputies Rescue Woman Trapped in Burning Car Seconds Before it was Engulfed in Flames
Florida Highway Patrol officer Richard Brewster was driving north on the Suncoast Parkway in Pasco County, Florida just after midnight on Dec. 29 when he witnessed a horrendous car crash. A car slammed head-on with another vehicle. “As we were coming up the embankment, all you see was just the implosion of all the steam, sparks, lights,” Brewster said. “I immediately ran over there and checked to see if [the driver] had a pulse.” Ricca Soto, 30, was the driver of the Infinity that was driving southbound in the wrong lane. Once she slammed into the other car, her vehicle burst into flames. “Everybody was like, ‘It’s on fire, back up, start moving,’ and I’m like, ‘No, she’s in here, come help me,'” Brewster said. “It seemed like I ran around that car a million times trying to get her out and then the other lady was on the phone with 911. “ Pasco County deputies arrived shortly after. “The first officer showed up, he comes running up and he asked [if there was] somebody in there, and I said yeah, but I can’t get her out,” said Brewster. The sheriff’s office released body-cam video footage of the incident, where first responders can be seen using firing extinguishers to alleviate the flames. The fire continued to burn and get closer to Soto, still trapped in the car. One of the deputies broke down the rest of the crushed driver’s-side door to quickly pull Soto out of the vehicle. "We share video of this rescue to show the dangers our deputies face each shift," the sheriff’s office said. "We’re proud of the deputies' selfless efforts to ensure the driver made it out of the car alive." Brewster said the car burst into flames as soon as Soto was removed from the car. “It was seconds,” he said. Soto is recovering at a local hospital. “I’m really glad that the deputies were there,” said Soto’s stepdaughter, Elizabeth Soto. “It’s really challenging to even watch that video and know it’s somebody close to me.” The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Image source: Pasco County Sheriff's Office

Maryland Man Receives ‘Breakthrough’ Heart Transplant From Genetically Modified Pig
David Bennett, a 57-year-old man from Maryland with a life-threatening heart condition, has become the first person in the world to undergo a successful animal-to-human heart transplant. The University of Maryland School of Medicine performed the operation. Bert O’Malley, president and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore praised the groundbreaking procedure. "We appreciate the tremendous courage of this live recipient, who has made an extraordinary decision to participate in this groundbreaking procedure to not only potentially extend his own life, but also for the future benefit of others," he said in a statement. Other animal-to-human transplants have been attempted, but this marks the first one in which the recipient has not rejected the genetically modified heart. Bartley Griffith, the doctor who performed the transplant, said the successful procedure "will provide an important new option for patients in the future," considering the shortage of donated human organs. “This was a breakthrough surgery and brings us one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis," Griffith said in a statement. "There are simply not enough donor human hearts available to meet the long list of potential recipients." Bennett had been suffering from end-stage heart disease, meaning a transplant was necessary to survive. “It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” Bennett said in a statement the day before undergoing surgery. Image source: People

Southwest Airlines Employee Tracks Down Family to Return Touching Handwritten Letters That Were Left on Plane
Last September, Rachel DeGolia had one of her worst fears realized when a stack of irreplaceable family letters were left on a plane. She told CNN that the situation was “tragic,” but this tragedy turned into relief when an airline representative helped DeGolia find the letters. DeGolia’s mother died of cancer in 1996. Her family were “prolific letter writers,” and, last summer, her cousin found a collection of letters written by Lois to her brother, Phil, over a 30-year span from the 1940s to 1970s. The letters recounted Lois’ life, from her early days as a frustrated teenager in a small town in Iowa, to going to college in Chicago and eventually meeting the man that became her husband. "There were all these questions we'd have wanted to ask her, but she died within four months of her diagnosis," said DeGolia. "This felt like a gift -- a window into her young adulthood. And to lose it..." she pauses. "I felt so stupid to have not at least copied them." DeGolia’s cousin sent the letters to her throughout the summer, and she felt that her daughter’s wedding party in Brooklyn last September would be a great occasion to share them with the rest of her family. Degolia gave the copies of the letters to her brother so he could take them home to Chicago to read. He made sure to keep them in the plane cabin with him, but then forgot them on the plane as he landed in Chicago. "He was going to scan them when he got home, so he took them on the plane, put them on the floor and they were somehow kicked under his seat," says DeGolia. "He didn't notice they were gone for a few hours. He didn't even get to read them." A Southwest Airlines crew member found the letters during a post-flight check and immediately realized they were important to someone. The letters were handed over to a gate agent who placed them in a high-value safe. DeGolia’s name was the only recognizable one from the letters, but, because she had not been the one to fly with Southwest, her name was not in their passenger database. Southwest employee Sarah Haffner kept searching. Thanks to a Google search, she found DeGolia’s phone number. "At 9 pm one night, I got this call," DeGolia recalled. "She said she was Sarah from Southwest, and I stopped her—I said, 'Did you find the letters?' I couldn't believe it. It was amazing." The letters are back with their rightful owner and have “now been scanned,” she added. Image source: CNN

New York Police Officer Rescues Dog from Icy Waters of Partially Frozen Lake
A 10-month-old Labrador retriever named Kona ran onto an icy Bond Lake — just north of Niagara Falls — after a flock of geese landed nearby and startled her, according to her owner. Kona then fell into the water where the ice shelf ended. "Although she is a strong swimmer, there was zero chance of her getting back out onto the ice and she began to panic and tire quickly," according to the owner, who then called 911. Officer Jonathan Smith quickly sprung into action, racing to help the struggling dog. "Officer Smith arrived at Bonds Lake after a dog had fallen through the ice and was trapped in the water about 50 yards from shore," police wrote in a Facebook post. "Without hesitation he removed his equipment and went in after him, bringing him safely back to land and reuniting him with his owner." Body-camera video footage that was released by the Lewiston Police Department shows Smith carefully walking over the ice to make his way to Kona. He then gets on his hands and knees and pulls Kona out of the water. "Kona and I and everybody that loves her are extremely grateful for his selflessness and courage. You should be proud to have Officer Jon Smith as a member of the Lewiston Police Department," the owner wrote in an email to police after the ordeal was over. "His professionalism and bravery should be applauded. I have witnessed countless acts of selfless heroism, Officer Jon Smith’s actions rank high in my book." Image source: WIVB