Alive, 27 Days in a Well!

He was barely alive when found, near his home in the province of Saskatchewan. The rambunctious beloved retriever had fallen into a three-meter-deep unused water well. The shocking discovery of his 'brutal burial' was made by his family, while out for a stroll, with his canine siblings, one evening, - 27 days later! "How had Bruno survived", I thought, until I asked the question of my Saskatchewan born husband.

The story of Bruno's remarkable rescue came to my attention while waiting in the dentist's office. The television screen, mounted high on the wall, directly behind the reception counter, was alive with the snippets of news of the day. The scandalous headlines of government officials punctuated the senses like a plague upon us. When would these privileged people realize how lucky they were to have been elected? Then came the shocking news clip that flashed across the bottom of the screen: dog, missing for nearly a month, found alive. Suddenly, the news we thought we needed to know no longer mattered anymore.

Bruno, a chocolate retriever, had been trapped in a large deep hole whose grip on this beloved family pet was unrelenting. He'd struggled to get out while injuring himself in the process, eventually being found by his canine siblings. No one could see the hole in the ground, with tall grasses all around, until his scent was detected by other canine members of his close family whose immovable downward gazes caught the attention of his human owners walking nearby. ...  (A dog's sense of smell is 10,000 times greater than that of humans.) 

 

Bruno's body weight had dropped a perilous 50%. He shocked his family and team of doctors. Another animal would have died, many said. I wondered, too, out loud, to my husband. “How did he survive that long?” Had Mother Nature helped in her special, profound, quiet way? She probably had.

The veterinarians on Bruno's case worried about organ failure from dangerously low phosphorus levels. (Twenty-seven days without 'formal' food and water will kill any living thing, I thought.) But Bruno survived, in spite of being dehydrated, emaciated and hypothermic. The 7-year-old retriever, a senior in dog years, was found, feet encrusted in the dirt in an unused well, after 27 days. He could not move. But he was alive!

A dug well is generally chosen for its location near water. ... (We have a dug well. We live in the country where water is treated like gold.) ... Rainwater from melting snow and sporadic daytime rainfall probably helped keep this majestic animal alive. While thinking of Bruno, I thought of the miraculous survival of Jordan, the little puppy, I wrote about in Unprecedented Levels of Animal Cruelty who survived after being tortured, then thrown off a bridge into a damp river bed 30 feet below and left to die. His timeline: 2 days. To punctuate Jordan's horror, further, his hind leg had been cut from his body. He should have died. At that time, I thought of the power of earthing, Mother Nature's 'invisible' healing touch, in Jordan's survival. That thought surfaced again.

We lauded the efforts of Bruno's province, Saskatchewan, home to one of the largest deposits of potash in the world, for keeping him alive. I had not given that idea much thought. My husband did as we discussed the 'case'. Other friends he spoke to, who were born and raised in Saskatchewan, gave credence to our hypothesis: potash had played a part in saving Bruno's life. (Earthing could not do it alone, I believed.) Potash is a mixture of potassium salts, a fertilizer for plants. In the Prairie soil, potash is present in abundance. (Had it been present, at that 'well' depth, thereby keeping Bruno alive?) 

 

Saskatchewan is the second top producer of potash in the world. The mineral, potassium, (hence 'pot'ash) is a central 'figure' in the health and well being of all plants, animals and man. During periods of severe drought, potassium's ability to strengthen plant cell walls helps reduce the chances of severe moisture loss that can occur through the leaves of the plant. Did Bruno's interaction with potash in the soil help his own animal 'cells' retain the life-saving nutrient - water - for much longer periods of time than would be normal? Did the other nutrients in potash facilitate the health of the dog's organs keeping them in a state of suspended animation, perhaps? Conjecture is the name of this miraculous game.

Animals have amazing resilience. I have seen it with my dogs and cat during their own medical crises. But Mother Nature had to have helped in some miraculous way with Bruno's survival. Had the melting snow mixed with the potash in the soil with its nutrient rich base to create a form of Mother Nature 'pablum'? Were calcium, nitrogen and magnesium present, too, to augment Bruno's chances of survival? Had this porridge-like gruel nourished his 'brutalized' body as he licked the water and mud mix that was a part of his forever bed? 

 

Bruno had been laying on the soil in a province known for its great potash deposits. Though he was near death, Bruno's organs were not seriously affected, despite long-term starvation, according to his doctors. Was osmosis at work here, too? (Bruno has now become a case study.) Did the miracle of potash and earthing, from Mother Nature's world, serve to save the life of Bruno the retriever? I believe it did.

Recently, while attending a wedding in Toronto, I was seated next to a long-time family friend. He was a former resident of Saskatchewan, now living in Toronto and is an organic scientist with a gluten specialty. He was not aware of Bruno's story. When told of our views on this dog's miraculous recovery, (Bruno, affectionately nicknamed, 'the potash puppy miracle', was finally home.) our friend agreed with our observations. The compound/fertilizer called potash might very well have been the difference between life and death for Bruno, the 7-year-old chocolate retriever from Saskatchewan.  

 

Retrievers love to fetch and eat dirt/grass. I have seen my own 'Mr. Wiggles' and 'Sally' do both to excess, on occasion. But eating dirt is a habit I try to discourage. Maybe, my thinking needs to change. Since Bruno's remarkable recovery, it would seem that Mother Nature not only knows best, she knows everything!