Worker Hailed A 'Hero' For Rescuing Dog From Tracks As Train Approached
By Anders Anglesey On 10/18/22 at 11:54 AM EDT
A railway station employee has been called a "hero" after he managed to rescue a dog from the tracks.

Paul Hawthorn, 56, from Luton, England, went viral on TikTok after he rescued a young female Staffordshire Bull Terrier from the tracks of Leagrave Station at about 7 a.m. on October 17.

In the clip, which has been seen 1.7 million times and can be seen here, TikTok user getinthebarth claimed a train was coming while the young pooch could be seen frantically running around on the tracks and appeared to be in distress.

Fortunately, gateline assistant Hawthorn was shown seconds later carefully holding onto the now clearly pleased pooch that licked her rescuer as a thank you.

Paul Hawthorne was praised for his quick-thinking actions. Getty
TikTok user getinthebarth captioned the video: "People dump dogs at stations like this all the time. For every evil person, there is a kind-hearted one."

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, some 6.3 companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those 3.1 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats. The number of pets entering U.S. shelters each year has declined from 7.2 million in 2011.

Hawthorne later told Newsweek that he had been in the booking hall when someone told him that a dog was running around on the platform for the London-bound train.

He ran down and found a woman who had managed to get a hold of the dog but left to catch the next train at which point the excitable pooch wriggled free.

Hawthorne said: "Then my worst fear was realized as it jumped down on the tracks. I was thinking 'What should I do?' and then my training kicked in. I rang the signalman to caution the trains, getting them to slow down ready to stop if necessary.

"I'm not allowed to go down on the track but the guy from the coffee kiosk on the platform there had some croissants and enticed the dog over to the platform edge. It couldn't jump back up but as it put its paws up to get the croissant I managed to grab it and haul it up onto the platform.

"I couldn't let go—it would have wriggled free again—so I just held on and two people came along and hauled me up to my feet."

Hawthorne later took the dog to the staff mess room and learned someone had posted about a missing dog online.

Despite the TikTok user having posted about dogs being dumped, the young dog had in fact escaped after a garage door had been left open.

Hawthorne said: "It was quite traumatic at the time. I don't own a dog but we help people out by dog sitting and I just felt sorry for the dog. I thought 'oh my God, it's going to get run over by a train.' It worked out all right in the end, it was a relief.

"In the mess room, it was play biting with my uniform. It was a lovely dog."

Hawthorne's heroics were not lost on the overwhelming majority of commenters who praised him for rescuing the dog.

One TikTok user posted: "You absolute hero. Thank you."

Another added: "This man is a hero. Thank you so much. The way the dog kisses him. Evil people in this world to do that, heartbreaking."

A third commenter posted: "It breaks my heart that people just dump animals. If you don't want them at least take them to a shelter. It's just so cruel. Thank you to that hero."

Local train operator Thameslink's customer services director Jenny Saunders told Newsweek: "Paul's a real Thameslink hero. The railway tracks are a dangerous place and his quick thinking certainly saved this dog's life."

WESTMINSTER, Colo. — It wasn’t Karen Madsen and her family’s intention to adopt a pit bull when they decided to get a new dog during the pandemic. It just worked out that way.

“Pit bulls just don’t have the type of reputation that’s attached to the pit bull,� Karen said.

“We wanted a dog named Daisy, and she happened to be a pit bull,� her husband Ryan Lytle added.

For the last year and a half, their son Ryder has spent his time playing with Daisy inside and outside the home, taking her for walks and cuddling with her.

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“I think that's a pit bull trait,� Karen said. “You know, they're very much cuddlers and they just can't be close enough.�

At the Dumb Friends League, vice president of sheltering, Katie Parker, says the stereotypical characterization of pit bulls being aggressive dogs is inaccurate.

“They are goofy and happy and silly. They will make you laugh,� she said.

For about 30 years starting in the late 1980s, pet owners were banned from owning pit bulls in Denver and many other metro municipalities. Most of those breed bans have been overturned in recent years — only Louisville still bans the breed. In Denver, pit bull owners need a provisional license that they can get after micro chipping their dogs and meeting other requirements.

Even with those relaxed standards, about one in five dogs at the League are some kind of pit bull or Staffordshire mix, which many families looking to add a four-legged friend to their household don’t consider. Parker admits despite their friendly demeanor, the large, athletic dogs are not a good fit for every family.

“They can be big and rambunctious, and so they can be a little bit hard to manage,� she said.

“Just like your kids, your dogs are a reflection of how they're treated,� Karen says of her family’s time with Daisy. She says there have been some bumps in the road, but nothing she wouldn’t haven’t expected from any dog that had spent their bulk of their life in a shelter.

“She just needed some work, and we needed to work on boundaries,� she said. “That's why we ended up with the training.�

Ryder says he loves his new best friend and would recommend anyone look at adopting a pit bull.

“Because they are very joyful, playful and very happy to be around their owners,� he said with smile.

The defendant promised to restore the health of terminally ill dogs and defrauded 900 pet owners of nearly one million dollars altogether.

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Jonathan Nyce, 73, of Collegeville, PA, was convicted by a federal jury of wire fraud and the interstate shipment of misbranded animal drugs. The charges arise from a years-long scheme to defraud pet owners of money by falsely claiming to sell canine cancer-curing drugs.

In February 2020, the defendant was charged by Indictment for this scheme, which he operated by creating several companies, including “Canine Care,� “ACGT,� and “CAGT,� through which he purported to develop drugs intended to treat cancer in dogs. Using various websites for these companies beginning in 2012, the defendant marketed these “cancer-curing� medications to desperate pet owners, using the drug names “Tumexal� and “Naturasone.� The websites made numerous false and fraudulent claims regarding the safety and efficacy of these supposed drugs, including that “Tumexal is effective against a wide variety of cancers,� and, “[i]n fact, Tumexal will almost always restore a cancer-stricken dog’s appetite, spirit and energy!� As alleged, these drugs were nothing more than a collection of bulk ingredients from various sources, which the defendant blended together himself at a facility on Arcola Road in Collegeville.

Further, through email and telephone conversations, Nyce induced the owners of terminally ill dogs to pay him hundreds or thousands of dollars for these drugs by touting the effectiveness of his products in treating a host of canine cancers. He also told prospective customers that their pets could become part of clinical trials, but in order to do so, they had to pay him large sums of money. Evidence presented at trial showed the defendant sold nearly $1,000,000 worth of drugs to approximately 900 different victims. The defendant’s marketing, sale, and shipment of these drugs violated the Food and Drug Administration’s Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because the drugs were not approved by the FDA. The defendant even falsely claimed in promotional materials that his company’s research was “funded in part by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.�

“When beloved pets become sick, caring owners look for treatments that can offer hope to keep their pet alive and comfortable,� said U.S. Attorney Romero. “Jonathan Nyce took advantage of that bond between pet and owner by defrauding customers and giving them false hope that they might be able to save their dying pet. That is both cruel and illegal, and we hope this verdict brings his victims a small measure of justice for their suffering.�

“The FDA’s animal drug approval process ensures that our pets receive safe and effective products. Ignoring the FDA’s requirements and selling unapproved drugs to vulnerable U.S. consumers will not be tolerated,� said Special Agent in Charge George A. Scavdis, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Metro Washington Field Office. “We will aggressively pursue and bring to justice those criminals who place profits above the health and safety of animal patients."

The case was investigated by the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation with assistance from the Consumer Protection Branch of the Department of Justice, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher E. Parisi.