Posted on 08/28/2015 5:20:37 PM PDT by ponygirl
SALMON, Idaho — A man hiking through a national forest in Idaho suffered severe burns and his two dogs were scalded to death when both canines plunged into a hot spring and he jumped in after them to try to save his pets, authorities said on Tuesday.
The freak accident occurred last week in the Panther Creek Hot Springs, a popular spot in the sprawling Salmon-Challis National Forest, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of the tourist town of Salmon in east-central Idaho.
Temperatures at Panther Creek, usually mild enough for human bathing, had apparently grown dangerously high, possibly from drought conditions that may have curtailed cool water flows that normally mix with the springs' geothermally heated groundwater, forest spokeswoman Amy Baumer said.
The hiker, who was not publicly identified, was out walking through the mountains with his dogs last Thursday when both pets leaped into the hot springs, killing one animal outright and prompting the man to plunge into the searing water to rescue the other, authorities said.
The second dog later died of its burns after being taken to veterinarians for emergency treatment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Very sad.
Hot doggie ping!
I`m a dog person so I can see doing that, those guys have personalities and a good dog really is ‘man`s best friend’, sad story.
Sad for the dogs, but I do have to cringe at the thought of what this did to his nads.
I don’t know if this is the same hot springs I’ve seen but low groundwater vs hot spring flow is easy to understand. Poor puppies. Sad story.
That is weird.
I’ve been in those springs and they are very mild normally.
Sounds like the guy was lucky to get out alive.
Glad he made it. Hope he’s not to badly injured.
... global warming.
Dante’s Peak was filmed in Idaho...just sayin.
Thanks...
Oh, so very sad; his dogs are gorgeous. When I read stories like this, I have to believe all dogs go to heaven. Still, very sad; I hope the owner recovers completely. How many of us would have done the very same thing?
God bless that man for the burns he endured trying.
To all those who will call him stupid, remember those dogs would not hesitate to lose their lives for him.
And if he lost everything, they would live behind a dumpster with him.
obvious question the story never mentions. How hot was the water? As a reporter that should be one of the most important criteria to answer for readers instead of the vague “dangerously hot”. That can mean 99 degrees or 160 degrees depending on someone’s tolerance.
Wow that’s bad. God bless them.
They’ve had several small earthquake swarms in the last year caused by the Yellowstone magma moving. I believe this is what’s causing this not low water temp.
....he jumped in after them to try to save his pets.
Sorry, no sympathy from me.
It killed one dog immediately, so it was probably somewhere above 140F.
My roomates & I (late 70’s, early 80s) would go down into the Bruneau Canyon in southern Idaho with our two Jeeps loaded down with food, gas etc. and spend 5-6 days at a time. This area is remote and before BLM permits were required to be there.
There are small side rivers and streams that feed into the main river and many of them were damn near boiling HOT. We used a piece of gutter to divert hot water to a cool part of the stream for our daily bath!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.