Emergency personnel are calling it one of the most touching, heartbreaking scenes they have ever responded to.
78 year old Nevis, MN. resident Bud Kelsey was traveling north on County Road 2 when he drew his last breath. The elderly man suffered a massive heart attack, veering his truck across and off the road into a patch of deep snow at the forest’s edge. Nobody witnessed the accident, but one of his neighbors were driving the same road hours later and called 911 when they noticed his truck in the distance.
When ambulance personnel arrived they found Bud and his dog Zoey in the cab of the truck. Zoey stood her ground and refused to allow medics to remove her master from the truck despite repeated attempts. They finally decided to call a friend of the victim who arrived shortly thereafter and was able to comfort Zoey enough to allow for Bud to be removed from the truck and placed in an ambulance.
Zoey then planted herself firmly by the bumper of the truck and refused to leave, laying in a snowbank and watching as police mapped out and photographed the accident scene. The white shepherd mix had been Kelsey’s constant companion since he rescued her seven years ago, and nobody could coax her away from the site of her guardian’s passing, even after police and rescue had completed documenting the incident.
Eventually another friend of the victim was seen arriving at the scene. After some time spent consoling the heartbroken dog, they were able to lead her away from the sad site that she was determined to protect. The silent, stoic witness to the passage of her best friend had done her best job of keeping watch over him in life, in his final moment and beyond.
