Gas Chamber Survivor Daniel The Beagle Goes From Pound Dog To Talk Show Star
Dec. 1 2011, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
By Debbie Emery - RadarOnline.com Reporter
Anderson Cooper will welcome a very special guest to his talk show on Friday who has literally cheated death, and RadarOnline.com has video of the emotional encounter.
Daniel the Beagle miraculously survived the gas chamber when the Florence, Alabama, animal shelter where he was abandoned tried to put him down in October, but the sturdy hound resisted the deadly fumes and trotted out wagging his tail.
Anderson met with Daniel and his new owner, Joe Dwyer, who adopted the lucky Beagle mix after he was given a stay of execution.
Up to 30 animals are put to death every month but staff at the pound have only ever heard of three others surviving in the past 12 years.
"As far as we know, he was put into the gas chamber with multiple other dogs," explained Dwyer when he appeared on Anderson, as Daniel excitedly sniffed around the talk show set.
"When they opened the door after the gas was let in, he came out with his tail wagging, and it's nothing short of a miracle. It's just unbelievable."
Like animal lovers across America, Dwyer, of Nutley, New Jersey, first heard of Daniel's death-defying feat on the news after he had been whisked to safety in his home-state by Eleventh Hour Rescue in Rockaway.
He told the CNN host that Daniel wasn't put back in the gas chamber after he unexpectedly defied the carbon monoxide, "They didn't apparently have the heart to put him back in," he explained.
"They thought that possibly from the after-effects of the gas, he might die during the night. But the next morning he was still wagging his tail."
"He's been wagging his tail ever since!" gushed Cooper cheerfully.
Daniel isn't just squandering his second lease on life by chasing balls or chewing his new family's furniture, he already has a proposed law named after him to ban gas chambers, and will also become a poster child for pet adoptions.
"We can’t deny he has a purpose," said Dwyer, reported the NJ.com.
Earlier this month, the floppy-eared Beagle mix joined hundreds of animal rights advocates who rallied in Pennsylvania for the law that would ban gas chambers there. It has the support of two-thirds of the state Senate, according to Senator Andy Dinniman, a primary sponsor.
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