A sheepdog in Georgia has been praised for heroically protecting his herd from eight attacking coyotes - killing the predators in the process.
As reported by Fox 5 Atlanta, Casper is a sheepdog who currently works on the Decatur farm of John Wierwille. And in a show of dedication that would put even the hardest working human employee to shame, Casper was recently involved in a brutal fight with eight coyotes that were attempting to get to his flock.
According to Wierwille, the battle - which took place on November 4 - lasted around half an hour, and led to Casper disappearing after vanquishing his enemies.
It was a worrying two days for Wierwille and his family, who says that they knew Casper had been injured in the battle as they "found parts of his tail and blood and other things" while searching for the pooch.
Fortunately, Casper returned home, but with nasty injuries.
More on this story in the report below:His owner told Fox 5: "He was kinda looking at me like, 'Boss, stop looking at how bad I look, just take care of me.'"
In fact, Casper's vets even described one of the dog's injuries as looking "like a coyote grabbed his skin and peeled it right off."
Writing an update on his dog on Facebook, Wierwille said: "None of his flock were injured, but he has critical wounds - a severed tail, deep puncture wounds, and two large patches of skin torn away. He has been in an emergency veterinary hospital since."
Sadly, the extent of Casper's injuries has meant that Wierwille has been left with mounting vet bills. Thankfully, animal organization the LifeLine Animal Project has stepped in to provide some assistance.
The organization is dedicated to never having to put healthy dogs down - raising funds to help those in need.
Now, the LifeLine Animal Project has launched to GoFundMe to help raise the $15,000 needed to pay for Casper's vet bills. Amazingly, thanks to kind-hearted donators, the target was surpassed - with any additional money being put aside to help save an animal's life in the near future.
Casper is now said to be back in good spirits.
On social media, people have taken to comments sections to praise Casper for his brave actions, including one Twitter user, who wrote: "Start your day off with a hero story. Great job Casper! I sure hope your human feeds you many steaks for saving your sheep."
You can read more about the incredible work of the Lifeline Animal Project team here.
If this isn't just an incredible story of dogs being man's best friend, I don't know what is!
