Real Name: Lulu
Case: Animal Heroes
Location: Presque Isle, Pennsylvania
Date: August 4, 1998
Case[]
Details: On August 4, 1998, fifty-seven-year-old Jo Ann Altsman of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, was vacationing at a campground on Lake Erie. While her husband was out fishing, she was relaxing in their trailer. Suddenly, she felt a pain in her chest and her left arm went numb. She threw the clock through the window and called for help, but no one in the campground heard her. No one except Lulu, her pet Vietnamese pot-bellied pig. Her heart attack continued, the pain increasing. She became terrified that she would die, no one close enough to help. Seconds passed, then minutes. She was getting weaker.
Then, forty-five minutes after the ordeal began, a young man knocked on Jo's door. She called out to him, telling him that she was having a heart attack and to call 911. Within minutes, paramedics were rushing her to the hospital. They took her to the emergency room and admitted her. She underwent heart surgery and survived. Doctors said that if she had arrived more than fifteen minutes later, she would have either died or had no quality of life. But how did the young man happen to arrive just in the nick of time? What guardian angel guided him to her door? To Jo's amazement, it turned out to be Lulu.
From the moment Jo fell to the floor, Lulu seemed to know something was very wrong. She ran to the kitchen and squeezed herself through the doggie door, scraping her belly raw. Outside, she threw herself against the gate, battering it until it broke open. Other than for walks, she had never left the yard before. But on that day, she seemed to determine to find help. Jo could hear her cries getting fainter; that was because she was going farther away from her. But she did not register that at the time.
Lulu went to the campground's main crossroads. Incredibly, she parked herself in the middle of the road, forcing drivers to back up or swerve around her. Even more amazing, she repeatedly retraced her steps, returning constantly to Jo. She would come back in through the doggie door, scrape her belly, and check on Jo. And she would go back out and do everything again. To Jo, it seemed like she was yelling forever, and Lulu was running back and forth forever, and nobody came.
But Lulu apparently was not willing to give up. Finally, the young man stopped. He followed her back to the trailer where he found Jo. When the paramedics put her in the ambulance, Lulu tried to get in with her; she was still trying to make sure she was okay. Lulu's behavior defies explanation. Did she actually conceive and execute a plan to save Jo's life? How could a pig do that? And why would she? Animal behaviorists might credit pack instinct or genetically programmed responses to fear pheromones. But Jo has a simpler answer: Lulu loved her. Every morning, she thanks God that Lulu was there. And every morning, she thanks Lulu. She feels that Lulu literally saved her life.
Jo also hopes to find the young man who helped save her that day; she never learned his name.
Extra Notes:
- This case first aired on the June 4, 1999 episode about animal saviors, along with that of named Norman.
- It was also featured on It's a Miracle, Urban Legends, Unbelievable News of the World, Late Show with David Letterman, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Good Morning America.
Results: Unsolved. Sadly, Lulu died on January 30, 2003 at the age of five, ironically of a heart attack. Jo passed away in 2013 at the age of seventy-four.
Links:
- Pot-bellied pig saves owner's life by lying in front of a car - October 10, 1998
- Pig out-Lassies pooch in rescue attempt - October 15, 1998
- Pot-bellied pig to the rescue! LuLu a cut above Lassie - October 15, 1998
- Pet pig outshines Lassie, triggers rescue of owner - October 16, 1998
- ASPCA honors hero pets - February 2, 1999
- News of the Weird - News from the Animal World - March 6, 1999
- Lulu the heroic pig now known worldwide - April 9, 2002
- That'll do Lulu, that'll do - February 7, 2003
- Heroic Animals - January 24, 2015
- Lulu on Find a Grave
- Jo Ann Altsman on Find a Grave