There’s nothing more inspiring than seeing someone go out of their way to help an animal in need. That was the case recently, when one officer stopped to help a lost dog get out of the rain.
On July 5, there was a severe rain downpour in Kingsport, Tennessee — which was bad news for one German shepherd, who was on the loose outside and on the road.
The poor dog was not only caught in the heavy rain but also in danger of being struck by the traffic. But thankfully, one officer stopped to do the right thing.
Witnesses saw the moment a highway trooper put his lights on to stop traffic, got out of his vehicle and called the soaking wet dog into the police car.
The inspiring moment was caught on camera and uploaded to TikTok, where many people thanked the officer for his kindness: “We need to make this human famous,” TikTok user Shayda Good wrote.
“That’s more than a cop. He’s a hero and a animal lover,” one comment on the post reads. “Thank you Officer.”
The officer was identified as Trooper Willis of Tennessee Highway Patrol. In a video he recalls noticing “some kind of animal that was in the road.”
“I put on my blue lights, because people usually slow down when they see blue lights… called into the radio so they knew where I was. I got out and tried to usher the dog towards me,” Willis says.
While people praised Willis as a hero for helping the dog out of the rain, he says he was just doing his duty as a highway trooper.
“We like to focus on traffic safety, whether that’s traffic or visibility or slowing people down on the roadways, and sometimes, we even rescue dogs out of the roadway.”
The German shepherd had a collar on, and Trooper Willis hoped that the dog would be able to reunite with her owners. Thankfully, that was the case: According to WJHL, the dog, named Luna, was reclaimed by her family from Petworks Animal Services — a happy ending to a heartwarming story.
Thank you to Trooper Willis for rescuing Luna from the rain and helping her reunite with her family! Please share this heartwarming story if you love dogs! ❤️🐾