When it comes to ringing in a new year, the most exciting moments tend to happen just as midnight strikes.
But in one small municipality of the Philippines, Atimonan, Quezon, this year’s frenzy happened hours after midnight, when locals discovered a helpless white dog struggling to stand atop a slippery boulder in the ocean.
“The dog was scared of the sound of fireworks, so he ran away and jumped off the street into the water and got stuck in there,” local Fernando Ricardo Arcino told Viralhog.
The waves crashed over the pup from every direction as he tried to steady himself on the boulder. Thankfully, locals swiftly called a fire and rescue team when they noticed the dog, and the crew arrived almost immediately.
At first, the tag-team rescuers planned to raise the pup to surface level by tying a rope around his body, but he was too slippery for that approach.
So, while one rescuer held the line above ground, another carefully lifted the dog, later named Yt, into his arms.
As scared as he might’ve been, the spooked dog knew he was safe in his rescuers’ arms and allowed them to carry him to street level without a single protest.
Yt eventually returned to the surface, thankful not to be battling the rising tides alone anymore. When he showed signs of itchy and injured skin, Arcino, who filmed the rescue, stepped in to take care of him for as long as needed, including regular medicated baths.
“I won’t give up on you,” Arcino wrote on Facebook.
As promised, Arcino never gave up on Yt and eventually adopted him. Arcino was already enamored by the dog when he first witnessed the rescue, but spending more time together since then has allowed them to forge a bond unlike any other.
It’s been a few months since his rescue, and Yt is doing better than ever. Thanks to the rescuers’ quick action and the dog’s incredible bond with Arcino, Yt’s worst days are officially behind him.
“[He’s] the survivor,” Arcino wrote on Instagram.