A little boy who was viciously attacked by a neighbor's dog while riding his bicycle outside his home in Bakerfield, California, was saved by an unsuspecting hero, the family cat, Tara.
The attack on Jeremy Triantafilo, 4, was caught on a surveillance camera, and it has since gone viral on the Internet, with netizens praising the family cat for its bravery and devotion.
"That's freaking amazing.. video of the month, if not the year. Hero award to the cat," wrote one YouTube user, while another added: "Apparently the cat was named Tara. 'Mother of all the Buddhas' in Mahayana (Vajrayana) Buddhism. She's known as the fearless one who is always ready to come to the aid of all beings. An appropriate name for the cat, I think."
The video shows Triantafilo riding his bike next to a parked SUV in the driveway of his home. The camera shows a dog on the other side of the car and it excitedly runs towards the boy as it spots him.
The dog bites the boy's leg, pulls him down from the cycle and attempts to drag him. But out of nowhere, Tara comes and rams into the dog's body, and prompts the dog to release his bite on the boy's leg.
Tara then goes on to chase the dog from the property as the 4-year-old's mother rushes towards her son.
Triantafilo needed only a few stitches and he doing well, his family told TV Station ABC23.
"Tara is my hero," he said of the cat, which has been with the family since 2008, according to the station.
"I've never seen a cat do that," Roger Triantafilo, the boy's father, told the station. "Especially ours. It just shows how much she really has a family-oriented mind set."
The dog belongs to a neighbor and it is currently under observation at Bakersfield Animal Control.
Check out the video below.
