KOTA KINABALU: The best gift one can give is gratitude, and Sky, a fluffy husky, did just that with a surprise visit to thank his rescuers from the Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) on Saturday (Feb 8).
Accompanied by his owner, Sky was warmly welcomed by APM officer Captain Aizex Junior Simon.
The friendly husky quickly bonded with the team, posing for group and individual photos with his rescuers.
APM personnel rescued Sky last Monday (Feb 3) after social media users spotted him trapped and wandering along a monsoon drain in Penampang.
Rescuers initially set up a ladder for him to climb, but the confused husky did not know how to use it.
In the end, they gently carried him up the ladder and released him back into the area, unaware of his owner's identity at the time.
The rescue was recorded and shared on APM Kota Kinabalu’s TikTok page, quickly amassing hundreds of thousands of likes.
One of the viewers happened to be Sky’s owner, who shared their experience in an Instagram post under the handle @skythehusky.
In a short video, the owner explained how Sky had escaped by climbing over the fence.
Realising he was missing, they searched all night using an AirTag tracker, but the signal went offline at 7.26pm.
It finally reappeared at 10am the next day, leading them to a neighbouring area.
"Sky was in the opposite neighbourhood! Luckily, no cars hit him, and we finally brought him home," the owner wrote.
It was not until later that they discovered what had happened.
"Sky was rescued by APM? We had no idea he fell into a drain and had to be saved. What else did he do overnight?" they posted.
The caption ended with a heartfelt tribute: "A HUGE thank you to @APMKOTAKINABALU for saving our little escape artist."
