“This post contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.”
A video of a man jumping into a freezing Sloan Lake and risking his life to save a stranger’s dog who fell through the ice has now gone viral.
The incident happened in February and was caught on camera by Instagram user Holly Morphew, who posted the video on Instagram.
According to Morphew, she was out on a walk with a friend around Sloan Lake in Colorado when they “saw a dog take off from the opposite side of the lake full speed ahead chasing geese.”
Without thinking twice, a man, now identified as Jason Skidgel, took off his clothes and fearlessly jumped into the partially freezing lake.
In the video, you can see both Skidgel and the pooch breaking the ice in order to swim to safety.
"Yesterday my friend and I went for a walk around Sloan’s Lake. We saw a dog take off from the opposite side of the lake full speed ahead chasing geese. We watched in horror knowing the ice would soon run out. It did, and the dog went down into the lake. […] We called 911 and… pic.twitter.com/0jdmAdLpnY
— GoodNewsMovement (@GoodNewsMVT) May 24, 2023
According to Morphew, they called 911 and the fire department to rescue Loki. But they weren’t sure if they would make it in time.
“It [Loki] struggled for a long time as we helplessly looked on, praying it could break enough ice to get to the shore,” Mophew recalled. “But it was getting tired and we could see the struggle wasn’t going to last much longer.”
Skidgel told Good News Movement that he knew he needed to be in and out of the freezing water in under two and a half minutes.
And after the touching and successful pup rescue, another heartwarming moment happened. The crowd of strangers immediately rushed to Skidgel and helped him warm up by putting their clothes and jackets all over him.
Skidgel shared a video on Instagram of the strangers helping him after the rescue. In the caption, he wrote, “I wanted y’all to see how humanity came together. I may have saved Loki’s life, but they saved mine. Thank you to all!”
After hero jumps in freezing waters to rescue a dog that's not his, strangers rush to offer him clothes off their back. We featured story of this hero earlier, what we didn't see until later was this beautiful moment shining light on the goodness of humans pic.twitter.com/N2OT6cDH6n
— GoodNewsCorrespondent (@GoodNewsCorres1) May 24, 2023
A Good News Movement correspondent posted the video on Twitter and said, “We featured story of this hero earlier, what we didn’t see until later was this beautiful moment shining light on the goodness of humans”
Furthermore, Skidgel gave a huge shoutout to the EMTs who also took care of him after the rescue. “They are the true every day heroes,” he said.
A lot of internet users were touched by the bravery and kindness of Skidgel and the crowd at Sloan Lake.
One user even wrote, “Risking your life for someone else’s pup then more strangers get involved literally taking the shirts off their back to save you. A reminder for all of us to be the good we wish to see!”
