Burnaby dog defies death after falling 20 feet onto Sea to Sky Highway

A Burnaby dog is lucky to be alive after he fell around 20 feet onto the Sea to Sky Highway on April 9.

After the fall, Drago the dog was hit by a car, leaving him with serious injuries.

The poor pup has a major fracture in his left hip, four shattered teeth on his left side, and extremely bruised lungs.

One of Drago’s owners and the organizer of a GoFundMe for his medical bills, Nic Nagamatsu, told Daily Hive in a phone call on April 14 he was hiking the Lions Bay Loop when he lost sight of his furry friend.

“He went to go pee … but the wall he jumped over led into a hill, and that hill led straight to the Sea to Sky Highway, so he essentially fell down that,” he says, adding his dog was hit by a car moments later.

“The wall was behind me, so when he turned to go over the wall, he was behind me. I looked over the wall straight onto the freeway and saw him and ran down.”

A driver who witnessed the accident posted to the Facebook page “Sea to Sky Road Conditions” to share what they saw.

“A dog fell off an embankment in Lions Bay about 20 feet, almost went through my windshield, and hit the north-bound lane of Highway 99. The car behind me hit the dog,” they said.

“He is a legend for what he survived,” said Nagamatsu in the description on his GoFundMe page.

“Drago defied death — cheated it, even.”

Drago fought for his life in emergency for 14 hours after being brought to the vet. The total cost of his care comes to over $12,000, according to a screenshot on the GoFundMe page.

As of Thursday morning, over $7,800 had been raised. Nagamatsu says a friend of a friend donated $1,200 to helping Drago even though they never met him.

“A majority of the GoFundMe donations I know are friends of friends or relatively close to me, and it’s really nice,” he says.

“It’s not really supporting me. It’s supporting him. It’s wonderful.”

On April 14, Nagamatsu posted an update, saying it was a “bittersweet day.” They had to push back Drago’s surgery scheduled for that day since his lungs are still healing.

Drago Vancouver dog survives highway fall car 3

Left: @cherryxzhao/Instagram | Right: Nic Nagamatsu/GoFundMe

Nevertheless, his pet is making good progress.

“Even the doctor can’t believe he actually made it to a point that he can breathe on his own,” said Nagamatsu.

Drago had a six-and-a-half-hour-long surgery that “was a complete success,” according to an update from Nagamatsu on April 13, who says vets already put his hip back together without damaging his nerves.

“He is having a hard time breathing right now, so going into a surgery when he is like this just wasn’t a good idea,” said Nagamatsu.

On the bright side, he’s moving and eating again and was eager to eat a handful of ground beef on April 14.

Drago Vancouver dog survives highway fall car 2

Nic Nagamatsu/GoFundMe

Once his hip surgeries are over, his teeth need to be fixed.

“The two hardest things, one being surviving the initial accident and two being getting his incredibly fractured hip back together, are miracles,” said Nagamatsu.

“He will walk again. He is by far the strongest dog I know and I am so happy he fought so hard for this, for us.”

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A post shared by cherry (@cherryxzhao)

Drago’s other owner, tattoo artist Cherry Zhao, is holding a raffle to fund his surgery and recovery fees on Instagram.

Five winners will be drawn, with three getting a free tattoo from Zhao and the other two getting ink from two other artists. All the tattoos will be custom and palm-sized, done over a three-hour session.

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If you win but can’t make it to their tattoo studio, Zhao has offered to customize and send you a drawing of your pet baby.

If you win and already have an appointment with one of the artists, the studio will deduct three hours from your time in the chair.

And if you don’t want to participate in the raffle but still want to donate, there’s a link in her bio for fundraising that goes straight to Drago’s medical bills.

It costs $10 to enter, and you can enter as many times as you’d like. Check out Zhao’s Instagram post for more details.

Updates will continue to be posted to the GoFundMe page for Drago’s care.