An Augusta Humane Society employee was walking one of the dogs early Saturday morning when she came face to face with an intruder.

“She’s very playful and I wasn’t expecting it at all for her to protect me like that,” said Volunteer Heather Jones.

For Heather, Mirka is no ordinary dog.

She says Mirka is a life-saver after a run in with an intruder early Saturday morning.

“About 5:45 p.m. I was letting Mirka out in the yard. I wasn’t really paying attention. I was waiting for her to come in and a man was standing behind me,” said Heather.

Heather’s shock turned to fear as she saw the man’s next course of action.

“He started walking towards me, didn’t talk to me just walked towards me so I asked him if I could help him and he didn’t say anything just kept walking towards me,” said Heather.

That’s when Heather said Mirka’s animal instinct kicked in.

Mirka came running from around the back of the building towards the man in order to protect Heather.

“She bulked up, the hair on her back stood up. She barked, she gnarled at him. She tried to charge but she would always come back in front of me to make sure I was still behind her,” said Heather.

Which Heather says is normally not Mirka’s behavior.

“She never acted that way before. Not towards other dogs, other people, never even growled,” said Heather.

The Humane Society is surrounded by fence and barbed wire and secured with locks.

It’s believed the man may have jumped the fence onto a shed to get inside the yard.

So far, the man hasn’t been found, but there’s a new found friendship between Heather and Mirka.

“She is my hero. I didn’t know who he was but she knew he was a threat and shouldn’t have been there. She’s my angel now,” said Heather.

Although Heather loves Mirka, unfortunately she can’t care for her so Mirka is still up for adoption.

If you’re interested in adopting Mirka, give the CSRA Humane Society a call at (706) 261-7387, email them at [email protected].