Man awarded after rabbit rescue {homeless man saves his rabbit - video @ link}

[xchrom]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0712/breaking29.html

A homeless man who rescued his pet rabbit from the Liffey was this afternoon presented with a 'compassionate citizen award', by the animal charity Aran.

John Byrne (38) who has spent the last 22 years living on the Capital's streets, became something of a celebrity after videos of his dramatic rescue of the rabbit, "Barney", were posted on the internet.

He said he had been sitting on O'Connell Bridge about ten days ago when a youth came along and grabbed Barney by the ears, flinging the animal into the river.

Mr Byrne who is originally from Ballyfermot was back on the bridge this afternoon, this time surrounded by crowds - many of them bearing microphones and notebooks as well as two television cameras - as he was presented with a framed scroll, by Aran director John Carmody.

[OneGrassRoot]

1. Thank you SO much for this.....

:hug:


I'm adding these stories to OUR COLLECTIVE GOOD -- we desperately need inspiration.

K&R


:grouphug:

[xchrom]

3. & he went back to begging on the bridge right after the rescue. nt

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Hopefully the job working with animals came through for him....

and hopefully the teen will get a properly severe punishment.

Such cruelty never wanes, it seems; the cruelty escalates. All serial killers started off torturing and killing animals.



:cry:

[xchrom]

5. you are a Mensch. and that is a good thing to be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensch

Mensch (Yiddish: מענטש mentsh; from German: Mensch, for "human being") means "a person of integrity and honor".<1> The opposite of a mensch is an Unmensch (meaning: an utterly cruel or evil person). According to Leo Rosten, the Yiddish maven and author of The Joys of Yiddish, mensch is "someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being 'a real mensch' is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous."<2>

[OneGrassRoot]

6. I never knew that...

I'd heard the word before, but for some reason I thought it meant a cranky old lady.

:rofl:

(I'm that as well!)

Thank you for the compliment, xchrom. It means a lot.

:hug:

[sasha031]

2. thank you, what a touching story and such a beautiful man