Bus driver Karim Mulji aids woman bitten by stray

A Calgary Transit bus driver swooped in to aid a woman and her dog after they were bitten by a stray canine in the city’s northwest on Thursday.

Lois Hedin was taking her Australian Labradoodle, Lucy, on her usual walk around 7:10 a.m. on Berkshire Boulevard N.W. when Hedin spotted another dog coming quickly toward them. The actions of the medium-sized brown animal made her nervous.

“I stood my ground to see what it would do,” explained Hedin on Saturday. “It didn’t stop and went straight for Lucy — biting her.” Hedin kicked and screamed at the stray, but nothing could get the dog off Lucy.

Hedin yelled for help while her dog yelped in pain and confusion, and that’s when the owner got between the two canines and wrestled with the stray.

“A man from a house came out and shoved the dog off and it went back across the boulevard, and that’s when I saw the bus and the doors open and the driver saying, ‘Come in!’ ”

Karim Mulji, a 14-year driver with Calgary Transit, was on his usual No. 118 Hidden Valley route when he noticed Hedin’s struggles.

“I saw Lois tending to her dog and a gentleman tending to Lois,” said Mulji. “I opened my doors and called to them and asked them if they needed assistance.”

Mulji said he offered Hedin and Lucy a warm and safe place to rest.

Hedin was cold, wet and bent over gasping after her tussle with the aggressive dog. She was also trying to call her husband.

Hedin said that while she welcomed the respite, she didn’t want to hold up Mulji from his scheduled stops. But he insisted she sit down.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Calgary+driver+aids+woman+bitten+stray/4192260/story.html