Animal Planet will rerun a special documentary first aired in Canada in 2011 which marked the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. "Hero Dogs of 9/11" will air Tuesday September 10, 2013 on Animal Planet at 8pm. The documentary tells the story of brave canines, each trained for a specific purpose. Just three of 300 rescue dogs that were a part of the recovery effort. "Hero Dogs of 9/11" tells the story of seeing eye dog Roselle, bomb sniffing dog Sirius and a group of dogs that helped to pull the last survivor out of the rubble that was once the Twin Towers.
The images of 9/11 are forever burned into the national subconscious. We all know how over 2,000 civilians, 343 members of the FDNY, 23 NYPD officers and 37 Port Authority Police lost their lives the day the towers fell. The rescue and recovery effort took months. The last person to be pulled out of the rubble alive was saved 27-hours after the attacks took place. Genelle Guzman-McMillan was on the 64th floor of the North Tower when the hijacked plane sliced through the building. As she and coworkers raced down the stairwells McMillan stopped on the 13th floor to remove her shoes.
At that moment the North Tower collapsed trapping McMillan beneath a wall where she would remain for over a day. Viewers of "Hero Dogs of 9/11" will hear about McMillan's story of survival and learn how rescues dogs alerted those searching for signs of life to her position. The dogs that helped to pull people from the rubble are just a few of the many heroes both four legged and two legged that saved lives in the wake of tragedy. Yellow Lab Roselle lead her blind owner Michael Hingson down 78 flights of stairs without stopping just narrowly escaping before Tower One fell.
Roselle became sick and had to be put to sleep in 2011. You can read more about her life and heroism on September 11, 2001 as written by her owner here. Sirius was also a yellow Labrador working at the World Trade Center. For the four-year-old dog being down at the WTC was part of his normal every day routine. Sirius was a bomb sniffing dog working to make sure the Towers were safe. Neither he nor his handler Officer David Lim of the Port Authority could have anticipated what would have happened on 9/11.
Lim needed to go help evacuate the towers after the attack began. He placed Sirius in his kennel with every intention of returning for him. Lim never got the chance. While attending the people who needed direction as they fled the Towers the building collapsed and Sirius was one of many innocents killed on that day. Lim became trapped in the rubble of the WTC for several hours before being pulled out. Sirius' remains were discovered the following January. The hero dog was draped with an American flag as was customary for any fallen hero recovered at the site. Sirius received his own memorial service on February 11, 2009.
The Animal Planet special "Hero Dogs of 9/11" will dive deeper into the experiences these three September 11 survivors had with the rescue dogs that try to keep us safe. These creatures no nothing about terrorism and violence. Their only goal in life is to please their human counter parts. They do not seek praise or reward, with the exception of a tasty treat of course. It does not take much to make them happy. A smile on your face is good enough for a dog.
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