Amazing Animal Rescues Guaranteed To Make You Cry

There is something very touching about people who go to extreme lengths to help animals out of terrible situations. They can't help themselves, after all, and sometimes they need us. Whether it's a frightened dog, a big brown bear, a tiny bat, or a bitty cat, we go to gooey pieces when we encounter a particularly touching animal rescue. So, grab the tissues and get ready to say "aw" a lot. Here we go.

Jason Frost and Brandon Key were minding their own business, fishing on the Warrior River, when they saw a little tawny kitten swimming toward them. Thank goodness they were equipped with a phone for videos, otherwise we may not have believed this amazing story. 

At first they weren't sure it was a kitten, but it started meowing (as heard in the video) and Frost, who is talking to the camera, picks the little critter up and puts it in the boat. But that wasn't all! From the banks of the secluded section of river, another kitten jumped in the water and Key steered the boat gently toward it with the trolling motor. Frost again picks this kitten up and puts it in the boat next to the other. 

A news story about the two kitten-saving fisherman reported that Frost said the area wasn't residential, so he doubted the kittens were runaways and that someone probably just dumped them nearby. When Frost and Key got to shore, they ran into a family that had two young daughters, and gave the kittens to them. A happy ending to what could have been a tragic tale. 

It all started with a great big pig. Australian philanthropist Pam Ahern grew up loving animals, but it wasn't until she rescued Edgar the pig that she founded the not-for-profit farm sanctuary named after the "pig who started it all." Today, Edgar's Mission resides on 153 acres in the Macedon Ranges and provides new hope and a better life for the farm animals that it rescues. 

One such animal is Soda Pop the lamb. Described as a "rag doll" when she first came to the farm, Soda Pop couldn't walk or stand. The heroes at Edgar's Mission refused to give up, and fashioned a little walking brace out of a reusable grocery bag. 

The day finally came when they were able to let the bag go, and Soda Pop finally walked on her own. She'll always need some help, but she is a much stronger, much healthier sheep because of the help she's gotten. 

Hurricane Harvey brought terrible flooding and devastation to many parts of Texas, and people were scrambling to save themselves as well as their animals. Some animals, however, needed professional rescuing, and that's where the College Station Fire Department came in. 

Two horses were trapped in high flood waters in College Station, Texas. They were frightened, obviously, and totally without the ability to get out of their precarious situation. Patient and professional firefighters from the College Station Fire Department managed to get the horses out, and into the hands of the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine. Minor cuts and scrapes were treated, and the horses are just fine. 

Of the many animals swept into the flood waters of Hurricane Harvey, it would have been easy to miss the tiny Mexican free-tailed bats that live in an enormous colony underneath the Waugh Bridge in Houston, over the Buffalo Bayou. Alicia Plunkett, a 21-year-old who noticed bats floating by in the water, didn't think hard, she just acted — and reached over to pull a bat out of the bayou. And another, and another. 

For four days, Plunkett returned to the bridge and with a number of helpers, used everything she could think of — umbrellas, gloves, and more, to rescue bats from the rushing water. Though bats can swim, it's unlikely they would have survived the current. 

Plunkett relocated many of the bats to a parking garage, but Houston Area Bat Team member Cullen Geiselman thinks that the colony will return to underneath the Waugh Bridge, which was reportedly home to 250,000 bats before the flood. 

Aaron, a pale terrier, lived in a parking lot in a not-so-good part of town near Los Angeles. While concerned locals tried to provide food and water, nobody knew how to help this dog, who was clearly sick and very neglected. 

Rescuers from Hope For Paws found him, and for over an hour tried to get him into their car so he could be bathed and treated, and taken out of the hot summer sun. The poor pup was scared, and it's really hard to watch as he panics when they put the dog catching loop over his head. 

He eventually calms down, and they're able to pet him, check him for a microchip ID, and finally bathe him and treat his mange and resultant fever. A Sealyham Terrier/Jack Russell Terrier mix, Aaron was placed with a foster home, and eventually adopted into a forever home.

Redditor Your_Brain_On_Pizza was idling at a red light, irritated by traffic, when she saw a kitten fall out of a vehicle in the intersection. She abandoned her motorcycle and swooped in to save the little guy, handed him to a passerby while she retrieved her transportation, and then cradled the tiny tabby in her helmet. 

The entire incident was captured via her body camera and it's terrifying to watch how many times the little guy was almost run over. She posted the incident and video on Reddit, where a slew of awesome comments ensued. She tells the thread that the cat is named Skidmark, since he almost was one, and just had a mild case of ringworm. She kept him, and keeps an Instagram account about him and his sister, "the Cat-leesi of the Great Cat Nip Sea, Daenerys." Life goals, ya'll. Just saying. 

Another Hope for Paws miracle, Clarabelle the golden retriever had eluded rescue four times before the team finally found her. She was under a shipping container, and as Los Angeles Hope for Paws director Eldad Hagar crawled under the container — bumping his head on the way — it didn't look like they were going to be able to catch Clarabelle. 

Hagar finally made it and actually crawled to the scared pup and pet her nose. While Clarabelle was terrified, Hagar and Clarabelle eventually worked their way out from under the container together. Clarabelle turned out to be a friendly dog after all, and after her medical treatment she was taken to the Southern California Labrador Retriever Rescue Center where they received "tons" of applications for adoption. 

Brown bears are a protected species in the Ukraine, yet people keep bait bears in tiny cages, remove their claws, and abuse them. Four Paws is doing everything they can to save them and, though Four Paws has been active in Ukraine since 2012 working with the government to enforce the existing ban on bear baiting, they broke ground in 2016 on a bear sanctuary near Lviv in 2016.

The Domazhyr sanctuary saw its first rescue in July of 2017. Potap was born in a zoo, but sold as a cub to a restaurant owner where he was an "attraction" and lived in a cage that he couldn't even stand up in. The restaurant closed, and local concerned villagers fed Potap until he was rescued by Four Paws. Today, Potap frolics in the sanctuary and is a happy and healthy bear. 

Charles Trippy has been a vlogger since before vlogging was cool. He started filming daily journals in 2009 and hasn't missed a day yet. Through a brain tumor, a split with his first wife, Alli Speed, to his new relationship with Allie Wesenberg and their 2017 marriage, Trippy has shown it all. 

One of the more heartwarming things he's caught on camera is the way he and his wife saved the life of an adorable kitten. Just as Hurricane Irma approached their town in Florida, Trippy and his wife found a tiny newborn kitten in the middle of the road. They looked for her mom, and for other kittens, but found nothing. So they brought her home. 

The full video shows their search, the experience of bringing the kitten home, and how their dogs reacted to the new addition. How cute is that tiny kitty?

John and Jonathan, a father and son team that films "Your Backyard Fish'n Videos" for YouTube, rescued a baby goat that was trapped on a levee. The guys, who fish on the California Delta, ran across the baby goat and loaded it onto their boat. They steered around the area until they found other goats, and then carried it up to the bank and pointed out the others. 

The baby, however, didn't seem to want its boat ride to end. While John and Jonathan tried to stick around to make sure the baby goat would return to its herd the little cutie looks back at them as if to say, "Can't I come with you?" They drive away as the goat ultimately makes its way over to the herd. Good stuff.

We just love stories of people who rescue animals, be they the cute and furry, the big and scary, or the tiny and winged. A huge thanks to the big hearts of all those who look out for creatures that need help, whether they are individuals just doing the right thing or organizations dedicated to animal rescue and protection. The organizations mentioned in this article in particular, as well as all the others in the world, do important work in the global and local communities, so hats off to them for making animal rescue their life's work!