During a historic blizzard on Monday, a snowplow driver on Long Island heroically came to the rescue of two dogs lost on a highway, as reported by local news and authorities.
While clearing roads in Babylon, Kenny McGowan noticed two dogs, named Harper and Heidi, dashing along Sunrise Highway amidst nearly zero visibility conditions, CBS New York reported.
“I caught something out of the corner of my eye and then saw in my mirror that it was a dog running,” McGowan, who works for the Department of Public Works, recounted to the news outlet.
He explained, “I turned on my sirens and stayed right behind them to keep them safe.”
Driven by his love for animals and being a father, McGowan quickly went into protection mode. “I was determined to do whatever it took to prevent those dogs from getting hurt,” he said.
McGowan successfully maneuvered his truck to block the highway, using it as a barrier to safely corral the dogs away from danger.
“They ended up going into the median, right in the middle, where it was like three feet of the snow, and they, like, buried themselves in the snow,” the worker recalled.
“One dog went laid on here, and the other dog went on top of him, so I was like, I knew right away … that they were close, they were family members, they were sisters,” McGowan added.
Good Samaritans helped McGowan pick up the two Lab mixes who escaped without collars and placed them back in his snow plow to bring them to the Babylon Animal Shelter.
“If nobody would have found them, they could have froze,” kennel attendant Danny Deutsch told the outlet.
Shelter staff scanned the two pups for microchips and reunited them with their owners in less than a day, the publication reported.
“Sisters Harper and Heidi, pictured here with Babylon Animal Shelter Kennel Attendants Angela Diangson and Danny Deutsch, are headed home,” the Town of Babylon posted on Facebook alongside an adorable picture of the dogs.
It is not immediately clear how Harper and Heidi escaped from their home.
