Airport Workers Save Seeing Eye Dog's Life
Southwest Airlines Employees Administer First Aid
POSTED: Thursday, July 19, 2007
PHOENIX -- A Seeing Eye dog's freak accident triggered a chain of charitable outpourings at Sky Harbor International Airport that saved the animal's life.It started inside a taxi on the way to the airport, said Larry Colbert, the dog's owner.The yellow Labrador Retriever, named Banner, was somehow injured during the ride."So he sat up, and when he did he kind of yelped, and my driver said, 'What was that?'" Colbert said.After they arrived at the airport and got out, Colbert said he could sense Banner was limping, but had no idea how severely the dog's leg had been sliced open.A security officer at Sky Harbor was the first to notice."Blood was everywhere," said Officer Dean Zattair. "All over the carpet. It was just gushing down."Suddenly, six Southwest Airlines employees appeared and tried to stop the bleeding.Zattair cleared the traffic outside so Colbert's girlfriend could race Banner to the University Animal Hospital in Tempe and into the hands of Dr. Carmen Bastek."We realized that he needed surgery as soon as possible," Bastek said.Banner made it through surgery and by the time he got to go home, the story was out. Flowers and balloons were waiting when the dog arrived home."If I hadn't paid attention to his little limp, I believe he would have gotten me all the way to where I needed to go, and bled to death in the process," Colbert said. "He would have worked until he dropped. How many people have that kind of commitment?"Although it's a mystery how the injury occurred, Colbert said good luck was on their side. The incident unfolded on Friday the 13th.
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