Two dogs rescued by the B.C. SPCA have been honoured for blood and courage at an awards ceremony in Richmond Friday.
Nuke, a 160-pound Japanese mastiff rescued from a marijuana grow-op in 2008, was adopted by Nanaimo artist Jeff King, who registered Nuke as a canine blood donor upon discovering the dog had a universal blood type.
Nuke, now 12, supplied numerous blood transfusions for sick and injured dogs. He has survived cancer and is retired from the blood donor program.
For his contributions, Nuke was honoured with a B.C. SPCA Animal Courage Award.
One recipient of the canine blood donor program is Rascal, a terrier rescued from a home in Lantzville in 2017 after he was found covered in an estimated 100,000 fleas and suffering from severe blood loss.
Rascal was treated and recovered and was adopted by a family in Nanaimo.
He was presented with B.C. SPCA’s 2018 Animal Courage Award at Friday’s ceremony.