It's hardly that simple. Are the lives of the rapists, the looters, the shooters-at-rescuers, worth more than the life of a good faithful dog?
In any case, I agree with those who point out that real-world rescues are hardly as starkly simple a choice as "one or the other lives, and the other dies". Only in the most ridiculously contrived hypotheticals would saving an animal along with its owner actually condemn some other human to death.
"Are the lives of the rapists, the looters, the shooters-at-rescuers, worth more than the life of a good faithful dog? "
Game, set and match.
Well played...:)
This "contrived" example is precisely what is happening in New Orleans as small boats move across the city.
Get real.