On August 4, 1997, while in her bedroom alone in her vacation trailer on
Presque Island, near Erie, PA, JoAnn Altsman suffered a heart attack.
Lu Lu, a 150-pound potbellied "pet" pig who lived with Altsman, took action. Lu Lu pushed her way through a too-small doggie door, injuring herself in the process, ran outside, pushed open a gate, then went into the street outside her owners' mobile home, and did her "dead piggy" trick, lying down in the middle of the road, feet sticking straight up in the air. Lu Lu knew this trick got attention, and sure enough, finally a passing motorist stopped, and Lu Lu lead the motorist to rescue her owner.
The rescuer called police and Altsman was taken to a hospital. Doctors said she could have died if help had come much later.
``<Lu Lu is> our guardian angel,'' Altsman said. ``She truly saved my life.''
Lu Lu received a Trooper Award on Tuesday, February 2, 1999 from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
Source: Reported in many newspapers. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a picture of Altsman and Lu Lu, and more details.
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