*A homeless Atlanta man is being hailed a hero after rescuing several animals from a fire at an animal shelter.
When the fire broke out on December 18 at W-Underdogs animal shelter, Keith Walker, 53, sprang into action. He happened to be on the scene to pick up his own pit bull Bravo, where the shelter’s founder Gracie Hamlin allows the beloved pooch to stay every night, PEOPLE reports.
“I was nervous as hell, I’m not going to lie. I was really scared to go in there with all that smoke. But God put me there to save those animals,” Walker said in interview with CNN. “If you love a dog, you can love anyone in the world. My dog is my best friend, and I wouldn’t be here without him, so I knew I had to save all those other dogs.”
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“My dog is my best friend, and I wouldn’t be here without him, so I knew I had to save all those other dogs,” Keith Walker said. https://t.co/HXHVL8WG0a
— CNN (@CNN) December 27, 2020
Walker rescued every animal in the shelter, which included 10 cats and six dogs.
Hamlin told CNN that the fire department “called animal control, but Keith was already in the building pulling out the cats and dogs until they were all safe,” she said. “I can’t thank him enough for saving my animals. I’m still in disbelief, because I’ve been around a fire and I know how fast they flare up. He is my hero.”
W-Underdogs said in a Facebook post that the blaze was caused by an electrical fire, and the entire building has been left uninhabitable.
The company said all the animals “are happy, warm, safe, and comfortable in their new temporary home.”
A GoFundMe campaign has since been set up for Walker’s heroism, with a second campaign dedicated to helping W-Underdogs’ recovery efforts.
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