Rescuers praise dog’s care for injured mountaineer

An Alaskan Malamute named North saved his owner after he fell 500 feet on a mountain in Croatia. The dog kept him warm for 13 hours until medical attention arrived.

January 5, 2022 - 10:56 AM

Midas the Alaskan Malamute gets some grooming from owner Natasha Huling of Bowling Green, Ohio, during the AKC National Championship at Orange County Convention Center on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Photo by TNS

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — And it wasn’t a Saint Bernard.

Croatian rescuers are praising a dog who protected his injured owner from freezing high on a snowy mountain, keeping him warm for 13 hours in the dark until he could get medical attention.

“Friendship and love between man and dog know no boundaries,” the county’s mountain rescue service wrote on Twitter Tuesday, with a photo of the dog lying on top of his master on a stretcher.

The accident occurred late on Jan. 1 more than 5,600 feet up Mount Velebit, that stretches along Croatia’s Adriatic Sea coast. Rescuers say both man and dog — an Alaskan Malamute called North — slipped and fell about 500 feet.

The hiker seriously hurt his leg but the dog was uninjured, and used its body heat to keep him warm as temperatures dropped after nightfall and rescuers strove to locate them.

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