Loyal Pit Bull Protects Missing Age 3 Boy Until Police Rescue Them Both from Woods
Deputies from Suwannee County in Florida credited a pit bull named Buddy and an alert neighbor for finding a lost 3-year-old who had wandered away from home.
On Tuesday, Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office deputies received a phone call from a worried mother who could not find her 3-year-old son. She explained that the child had been playing outside with his siblings and then vanished.
The family pit bull, Buddy, was also gone.
Local authorities, including patrol deputies from the SCSO as well as K9 units from the Suwannee Correctional Institution, visited the boy’s home to launch an official search.
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As the search was just getting started, the sheriff’s office received a second phone call — this one from a neighbor who had spotted the boy and dog.
“A short while later, a nearby neighbor called 911 and stated that he located a small child and dog in the woods, but the dog wouldn’t let him get near the child,” the SCSO posted on Instagram.
The pit bull was loyally guarding his child and became cooperative in leading deputies to the young boy.
Body camera footage posted to Facebook by WCTV showed deputies walking through a wooded area and into a clearing in the forest where the boy was waiting.
Once Buddy was confident that the little boy was safe, he enjoyed the affectionate pats and praises from the deputies, who scratched his ears and showed him a lot of love.
Buddy led everyone back out of the woods, the law enforcement officers breathing a huge sigh of relief that the missing child situation ended so well.
“Fortunately, we were able to reunite the child with his mother, thanks in part to “man’s best friend” and an alert neighbor,” the SCSO wrote on Instagram.
Sheriff Sam St. John told WCTV the child was not hurt and the outcome could not have been better.
“It was such a good ending to something that could have been tragic,” St. John said.
“We’re all the time giving out tragic news. I’m telling you, it feels so good, so good to tell a good story.”
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