Koko, a cat living in the Japanese city of Toyoma, was honored by local officials after alerting rescuers to an elderly man who had fallen supine into an irrigation canal. Via Japan Times:
On June 16, a 77-year-old woman taking a walk around 7:30 p.m. found Koko, a female cat who belongs to a neighbor, staring into the canal and acting strangely. When she followed the cat's gaze, she discovered a man lying on his back in a 60-centimeter-wide and 40-cm-deep canal. The water was about 15 cm deep.
It took five people to pull the man out. FNN covered the award ceremony:
Domo arigato, Koko-chan!
Image: YouTube / FNN Prime Online