Tag Archives: Mary Pruett

Hero rabbit saves owners from deadly gas leak

We’ve all seen or heard news about dogs and cats saving their owners’ lives, but rabbits?

A year ago, I did a post on a pet rabbit in Alaska who saved its owners from a house fire. Sadly, the rabbit didn’t survive.

Now comes another heroic rabbit credited with saving its owners’ lives. Happily, this story has a happy ending for the rabbit as well as its people.

Jerry Slavin reports for Skew News that a pet bunny named Blazer saved her human family, Jake and Mary Pruett of Bridgeton, New Jersey, from a deadly gas leak.

Blazer, the hero bunny

Blazer has a litter box, so she is allowed to roam the house like a dog or cat. There are pet steps next to the couple’s bed which enable Blazer to get up and down, although the bunny usually comes up during the daytime when the couple is awake and rarely visits the bed during the night.

Mary Pruett recounts that at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Saturday night, Blazer woke her up by “walking on my face and making noises like a horn was stuck in her nose.” Once awake, Pruett immediately smelled the gas leak and roused her husband Jake. They quickly got out of their house with Blazer, then called the Bridgeton City fire department.

Fireman Steve Chambers observed that “it is lucky that they got out alive.  Leaks like this are often fatal either due to death from toxicity of the gas or an explosion.”

According to the Center for Disease Control, there are as many as 500 deaths a year due to gas leaks. Since carbon monoxide causes unconsciousness, victims who are already asleep often die without waking up.

In the case of the Pruetts, the gas leak was due to a faulty stove installation.  Firemen were able to stop the gas that same night, and the Pruetts and Blazer returned to their home the next day, Sunday, after the fumes had vented.

H/t FOTM’s Joseph.