A man from Florida has been killed after he chased his dog onto the railroad tracks when it ran away from him.
Scott Wulff, 61, from Jacksonville, Florida, chased after his dog Astrid – but tragically both of them were struck by an Amtrak train Sunday.
Witnesses say Astrid became spooked by the locomotive’s lights and sounds as the train was approaching and ended up running directly towards the busy tracks.
Wulff ran after her in a desperate attempt to capture his dog and pull her to safety.
Scott Wulff, 61, and his dog Astrid were struck and killed Sunday by a train
Witnesses said Wulff’s dog escaped and accidentally ran toward the train after she became spooked by lights and horns
‘I heard the train speeding by, then a loud breaking sound,’ Isaiah Boone told People. ‘So, I go outside and I see everybody drop down on the ground in tears.’
Boone who works as a cashier in a restaurant across the street from the accident scene said he would see Wulff and Astrid in the neighborhood regularly.
‘No matter how much or how little he had, he would always feed his dog first,’ Boone said.
‘He made sure he let everybody know how much he loved her and how proud he was of her. She was his world.’
Wulff’s son Jacob also told the magazine that Astrid, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, had been neglected and was roaming the streets when his dad found her. She quickly became his father’s best friend.
‘She was homeless and running loose on a bad side of town,’ Jacob said. ‘She ran straight to him and he just fell in love.’
‘My dad struggled with depression and alcoholism throughout his life,’ Jacob said.
Wulff’s son, Jacob, said his father cared about the dog more than anything else
Wulff had recently become homeless after going through some ‘tough times’
‘She was his accountability partner. She depended on him for her survival and he knew that so having her really helped him keep his act clean. It was almost like his second shot at parenthood – taking care of someone. That was their relationship. Astrid helped my dad get through a lot of his depression and face his personal demons.’
Jacob told People that his father had become sober in recent years and starts a landscaping job.
He had also become more of a family man and begun to spend time with his granddaughters.
‘People may say, “It’s just a dog”, but for someone to literally stare death in the eyes for something they believe in or someone they love is so incredibly selfless. One thing I’ve learned from my father in recent years is that people need to value life a lot more, and not just our own lives. We need to value others’ lives, too. He did that for Astrid, but what about all the homeless pets who don’t have anyone to put their lives on the line for them? I’ve never been more proud of my father than I am now.’
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the Wulff family with memorial arrangements.
At one point in her life, Astrid was a stray and was left to wonder the streets alone