Animals are our best friends. This is true because they are great company, they give us lots of positive emotions, and they are loyal to their owners. Some animals are unbelievably brave and risk their own lives to rescue people. LIONS SAVE KIDNAPPED SCHOOLGIRL In rural southwestern Ethiopia in June 2005, a twelve-year-old girl was kidnapped by seven men while on her way home from school. The men were attempting to force her into a marriage she did not want and was obviously too young for. The girl’s captors held her in a hut and attempted to relocate her a week later as they evaded the police, but to their surprise they were chased away from the girl by three lions. DEER CHASES ATTACKER AWAY In February 2012, an Oxford, Ohio woman was attacked and dragged behind a building after leaving a party. The assailant, who seemed intent on robbing the woman, tried choking her with her purse straps. BEAVER COMFORTS ORPHANED BOY A young boy from Ontario, Canada named Rheal Guindon was camping with his parents when they decided to go fishing. Rheal stayed behind on the shore while his mom and dad headed out on a boat. Within minutes of their departure, the boat Rheal’s parents were using tipped and sank. Rheal helplessly watched from land as they drowned. GORILLA SAVES 3-YEAR-OLD BOY In August 1996, one parent’s worst nightmare came true when their three-year-old tumbled into a gorilla exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois. As the boy lied on the concrete below, surrounded by some seven gorillas, zoo visitors panicked and cried out for help. DOLPHINS SAVE LIFEGUARDS FROM SHARKS In 2004, lifeguard Rob Howes and three teenage lifeguards, including his daughter, decided to take a swim at Ocean Beach near Whangarei, New Zealand. Suddenly, they were encircled by seven bottlenose dolphins. A dolphin followed Howes and one of the lifeguards as they drifted from the rest of the group. WHALE SAVES WOMAN FROM SHARK Nan Hauser was swimming off the Cook Islands in October 2017 when a humpback whale seemingly randomly appeared nearby. The whale repeatedly bumped into the woman with its head and belly and attempted to carry her on its belly, back, and head. It also tried to put Nan under its pectoral fin several times. BEAR SAVES MAN FROM MOUNTAIN LION In 2012, a 69-year-old northern California man named Robert Biggs was attacked by a mountain lion while hiking. During one of his many gold-panning and hiking trips to Whiskey Flats, he encountered a mother bear, her yearling, and her cub on a stream bank. DOLPHINS SAVE FISHERMAN In 2002, a 36-year-old Australian fisherman named Grant Dickson was sailing off the coast of Queensland when his fishing boat sank. The boat went down in rough waters near Dunk Island after its nets got caught on seaweed. ELEPHANT SAVES GIRL FROM TSUNAMI When the tragic 2004 tsunami struck Thailand, eight-year-old Amber Mason was riding a four-year-old elephant named Ningnong at a resort in Phuket. The water quickly rose to Ningnon’s shoulders