A 5-year-old bull terrier captured the nation’s attention just before Hurricane Milton hit Florida as a powerful Category 3 storm earlier this month.
Police say the dog had been dumped in rising flood waters in Tampa, Florida, as Milton barreled toward the Sunshine State.
Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Orlando Morales spotted and rescued the dog, who would later be renamed “Trooper” in his honor.
“I got out of my car and sure enough I look right over right, right across my front bumper and I see his face just like sticking up, and then I can see water just pretty much up to his chest area,” Morales said. “I was kinda enraged at some point, how could anybody just possibly even think of doing an act like this, it was just awful.”
Fond of his new four-legged friend, Morales drove four hours on his day off to be reunited with Trooper.
Initially, Trooper was cautious, as expected, but then his foster mom Amber Gonzalez encouraged Morales to walk Trooper as he had done before. At that moment, Trooper seemed to trust Morales again.