An Alaskan Malamute dog in Croatia named North stuck by his owner and kept him warm for over 13 hours after the mountaineer was injured on the side of a mountain on New Year’s Day.
The mountaineer was with a small group descending a trail when his dog slipped on the ice, according to a report.
The man attempted to get North’s leash, but the dog slipped again and pulled his owner off the trail, Josip Brozicevic, the head of the local Croatian Mountain Rescue Service branch, said.
LA COUNTY BOY TESTS POSITIVE FOR ‘FLURONA’
The pair fell roughly 500 feet, Brozicevic said.
An emergency call was received by the CMRS at around 6:30 p.m., and help did not arrive until it was dark and the temperature was dropping, according to the report.
The two were found at around midnight.
North refused to leave his owner the entire time, and when a team of 27 rescuers discovered the pair, the two were found cuddling to stay warm, the report noted.
“The dog was curled up next to the owner in the pit the entire time; he warmed his owner with his body, thus preventing the mountaineer’s significant hypothermia,” Brozicevic said.
The mountaineer and North were pulled out of the pit they were trapped in and placed on a stretcher.
“Friendship and love between a man and dog know no boundaries,” the CMRS said in a social media post.
The fallen mountaineer fractured his leg and hurt his ankle, and North had no reported injuries, according to the report.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
North “curled beside him and warmed him with his body,” the CMRS post read. “His loyalty didn’t stop even when the rescuers came, he was one of us, guarding his man for 13 hours.”
