Animal rights group PETA honors pup credited with noticing gas leak, saving suburban Detroit family

Hunter alerted the McLarty family to an unlit stove burner that was sending natural gas into their suburban Detroit home.

GROSSE POINTE WOODS, Mich. — An animal rights advocacy group is honoring an adopted puppy for alerting its new family of a gas leak in their suburban Detroit home.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says the 3-month-old mixed breed dog Hunter is receiving its Heroic Mutt Award. The group says Hunter is receiving a framed certificate and “doggie bag” with a squeaky toy, “a comfortable harness to wear on walks” and vegan dog treats.

Tim McLarty of Grosse Pointe Woods tells the Detroit Free Press that a burner on a kitchen range was inadvertently left on low after the family cooked dinner March 5.

McLarty says Hunter woke McLarty’s wife Jill around midnight by whining constantly.

He says the family of five adopted Hunter about two weeks earlier from the Michigan Humane Society.