NorthWestern Energy Worker Rescues Freezing, Frightened Puppies

He said he thought he was looking at an animal carcass. Until it moved.

A blast of bitter cold combined with fierce winds sure left a signature on Montana last week. Were it not for a conscientious NorthWestern Energy employee, three lost puppies might have succumbed to temperatures well below zero, made even more difficult to deal with due to the wind chills.

Regardless of the weather, when you are a power line inspector, you've got an outdoor schedule to keep, where the continued safety of others is the priority. MTN News reported that Cody Yurek was doing just that. Even as the temperature hit 15 below.

Cody is the NorthWestern Energy Belt, Montana Town Manager. One particular power line section he was patrolling (a remote annual maintenance patrol) got his attention when what appeared to be a dead animal at first glance was actually three shivering, wiggling puppies. The pups had been there long enough to thaw the ground on which they were huddled together.

But why here? Why out in the middle of nowhere? The husky-mix pups appeared healthy, but reluctant to warm up to a stranger.

Cody was not about to leave them behind, and after some coaxing, he got the puppies into his warm vehicle. He got them some dog food and water and then called the chief of the Belt Rural Volunteer Fire Department to solicit his help and see what could be done about finding the owners.

So, the Belt Fire Department building became an animal shelter. For all of about one hour.

With Cody Yurek and Belt Rural Fire Department Chief Travis Jonson taking to social media, the owner and puppies were quickly reunited. The owner explained that she let the puppies out with an adult dog the night before, but only the adult dog returned and they had been searching through the frigid night and into the next day.

Needless to say, she was pretty happy to see them. And no doubt extremely grateful for one Cody Yurek.