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 - Breaking Celebrity News Reporter
Anderson Cooper will welcome a very special guest to his talk show on Friday who has literally cheated death, and Breaking Celebrity News 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.