[mobertol]

The man involved in the rescue was someone who makes his living by working with animals so his was a natural reaction when seeing the animal in distress -plus he was assisted by others on the bank but it was still very brave and self-less of him to jump into the river like that. I have been involved with animals myself on a daily basis for nearly 27 years (on a dairy farm) and have seen many sides of the coin with respect to accidents / animal welfare over the years. As a rule though there is a large body of people out there who work with animals and have great respect for them and do their utmost in any situation to alleviate them from danger, pain or un-necessary suffering. It is also true that we communicate with animals and in particular with our pets who we bond with quite strongly. I have had many cats over the years and have been through all kinds of situations with them - some quite distressing when they get ill or have accidents. I have always done whatever I could for them but I think to be totally honest in a really dangerous situation I couldn't guarantee I'd put myself at risk of death for them! Then again in such a situation we can sometimes surprise ourselves by our gut reactions in the face of a crisis (I am not a very brave person!)