- Georgia, USA -
After a fire broke at the W-Underdogs shelter in Atlanta, a selfless homeless man with a big heart stepped in and saved all the cats and dogs trapped in the fire.
The incident happened on December 18, after a fire engulfed the shelter’s kitchen.
The angel on earth is 53-year-old Keith Walker, pictured with his Pitbull named Bravo.
Mr. Walker told CNN: “I was nervous as hell, I'm not going to lie. I was really scared to go in there with all that smoke. But God put me there to save those animals. If you love a dog, you can love anyone in the world. My dog is my best friend, and I wouldn't be here without him, so I knew I had to save all those other dogs.”
Speaking about Mr. Walker, the shelter’s founder, Gracie Hamlin, told CNN: “He is my guardian angel. Even the firefighters didn't want to handle the dogs. They called animal control, but Keith was already in the building pulling out the cats and dogs until they were all safe.”
Mr. Walker managed to rescue all the furbabies – 10 cats and 6 dogs.
Gracie said that while the shelter was not completely destroyed, the fire left it uninhabitable.
The good news is that W-Underdogs was in the process of moving into a new facility where all the animals now live.
W-Underdogs, wrote in a Facebook post: “We have received a flood of requests on how people can help Mr. Keith Walker, the hero who saved our animals from the fire. Rest assured we have Mr. Walker’s best interests at heart, and are exploring how to best manage donations that have come in on his behalf. Please understand that the issues surrounding Mr. Walker’s homelessness are complex, and we need to proceed with care. Toward this end, we will be seeking an organization experienced in working with homeless and vulnerable populations to be his advocate and ensure that his needs, wishes, safety and well-being are taken into account. This will take some time, as we are currently stretched to the limit resource-wise and are still operating in crisis mode.”
CNN reports that Mr. Walker was on his way to the shelter to pick up Bravo and take him for a walk when he saw the fire.
In fact, the shelter also explained in their post that W-Underdogs have: “already been working with Mr. Walker for a quite some time now, giving him various jobs throughout the years. Additionally, we have always provided food and shelter to his dog Bravo. This will not change in our new location.”
Thank you, Mr. Walker for risking your life to save all these precious souls.
Wishing you all the best!
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