Brady Oliveira spends his free time in his native Manitoba helping puppies when he isn’t on the field for the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Brady Oliveira has a bright future in front of him. The 24-year-old will start the 2022 season as the starting running back for the two-time defending CFL (Canadian Football League) champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers after being selected with the 14th choice in the second round of 2019 CFL (Canadian Football League) Draft.
Yet here he is in one of his most recent TikTok videos, walking through icy floodwaters to save a mother dog and her two puppies who were stuck in the flooded Peguis First Nation in Manitoba last week.
@brady.oliveira One of the craziest rescue missions that I’ve been on! I received an alert about a dog & her 2 pups being left on a property where the community was evacuating due to the severe flooding! Pups were locked in the bathroom for 24+ hours covered in their own urine & fecies. Mom was locked outside with nowhere to go! 💔 Walking in the ice cold flood waters & getting hypothermia was one for the books! Welcome to the goodlife 🐾 #heartwearming #abandoneddogs #dogrescuer #dogrescuestory #savedogslives ♬ original sound – Brady.oliveira
According to Oliveira, “it was one of the craziest rescues I’ve ever done.” Some of the residents were unable to take their pets with them when they escaped. When the deadly floods worsened, local paramedics attempted to call Oliveira back, but he and Edmonton Elks receiver Shai Ross persisted. Once he learned about the abandoned animals, Oliveira claims that there was “no way” he would turn around.
Oliveira and Ross went through frigid water that at times reached their thighs for more than 15 minutes before reaching the region that was heavily inundated. The pair enters the abandoned home in the video, which has received more than 2.5 million views on TikTok, and discover Mama Dog, a boxer mix, frozen and afraid and confined on the front porch. After securing her, the rescuers go deeper inside and discover two puppies who had been starved for more than 24 hours after being imprisoned in a bathroom.
The party starts the long, arduous walk back to dry land after the rescuers place the puppies in a hamper and Oliveira takes the mother dog. It’s dangerous since you can’t see what’s below the water, according to Oliveira. “The water is frigid, and you have no idea what you’re stepping on.”
The video shows the gang loading the puppies into Oliveira’s truck after they arrived at dry land and their vehicles, where they instantly fell asleep. Oliveira drove the three dogs back to Winnipeg right away despite experiencing tingly feet, a splitting headache, and the early signs of hypothermia. Before the newly appointed fosters brought the dogs home to get warm and obtain some food and drink, veterinarians at K9 Advocates Manitoba examined and de-wormed the canines.
Oliveira is happy to inform us that after the icy adventure, not only is everyone still healthy and doing well, but the same family has also adopted the two puppies. While they wait for their forever home, their mother is away at Boxer Rescue Ontario where she is receiving care and affection.
The most terrifying of his several rescues was the genuinely bone-chilling ordeal. Over the past three years, he thinks he has saved 70 canines from a variety of scenarios. (When he’s not dodging linebackers or grabbing screen passes.)
Oliveira received the call to action when a buddy who works with K9 Advocates Manitoba asked for a friend to go on a rescue with him via a group chat. Oliveira responded to the letter eager to assist the stray and abandoned dogs in need of care and shelter as well as the First Nations communities in his native Manitoba.
Oliveira says, “I had no notion that this was such a problem in the province that I’m from. But as soon as I realized how many dogs were being abandoned, I felt I had to step in and assist.”
