Hilary Swank is a hero at least to Chelsea Blackwell of Albany, New York, and her dog Blue. Blue, must have sensed a dog lover in the area because the little dachshund landed on the set of a movie starring none other than Hilary Swank who has a history of helping to rescue lost dogs. What are the odds?
Mrs. Blackwell states that she drove for an hour before seeing and approaching a growing group of people, cameramen, and police officers just to see what was going on, no doubt Blue had the same idea. She was wondering if it were a shooting in the area but it ended up being a movie crew where she was reconnected with Blue after she began asking people in the crowd if they had seen a little lost dachshund.
When the crew told her that they had found a phone call was placed about an hour later Blue arrived in style sitting comfortably on Swank’s lap.
“I was like, ‘No way,'” Blackwell said. “As soon as she got out of the car, I kissed Blue and said, ‘Thank you so much.'” While Blackwell wanted an autograph from Swank, the star did her one better and took a selfie which has now been seen by thousands of people.
Hilary Swank has a long, 15-year history of rescuing dogs, In an interview, she is quoted as saying “Every dog I’ve ever rescued and also shared my life with have all had their unique way of being in the world,”.
In addition, the pull to help abandoned dogs inspired her to create a popular foundation, Hilaroo, which pairs rescue animals who have been abandoned with youth who have been given up on by society to create meaningful connections. The foundation is a mixture of Hilary’s name and her dog Karoo who she rescued on a film set in South Africa.
Oddly, she found Karoo in much the same way her encounter with Blue occurred on the set of a film. Swank states, “I don’t know if I found this dog, or the dog found me.” You can read more about Swank’s encounter with Karoo and Hilaroo on the website.
While I’m certain the Swank, the Million Dollar Baby star was eager to return Blue to her owner I’m sure the reconnection between Blackwell and her lost pooch was priceless.
Photo by Irvin Rivera
