Rescuers in Australia’s New South Wales were called into action after receiving an unusual emergency report: a dog had been swept off the rocks in Batemans Bay and was struggling in the ocean.
By the time the rescue team reached the area, the dog had already swum nearly 800m across the bay – a journey estimated to have taken between 20 and 30 minutes – prompting an operation to bring the canine to safety.
The local Marine Rescue NSW team said the dog swam across Batemans Bay to nearby Snapper Island, where rescuers assembled a team to bring it safely ashore.
Marine Rescue NSW inspector Glenn Sullivan said they received two phone calls about the dog. “We received two phone calls, one from a member of the public at Observation Point and the other from national parks.”
“They said that there was a dog [that] had been washed off into the water and was swimming out into the middle of water, about 200 to 300 metres offshore,” he said.
Rod Ingamells, the unit commander of the local Marine Rescue said: “I thought originally it was going to be easy, but it’s a difficult little spot.”
“One of our crew members who was a bit of a dog lover, she went straight into the water. But he decided to play hide and seek … and he ran around to the other side.”
A jet ski was also dispatched to the scene. It took about an hour for a volunteer to coax the dog into coming onto the jet ski. The team had recently been training on two newly delivered rescue watercraft, which helped during the operation.
Mr Ingamells said they found him three different times in all different spots, and the dog climbed up three metres from the water.
“He looked very comfortable and happy to be off the island,” he said.
“We put him on to the ski, and he was a bit like the drover’s dog,” Mr Ingamells said. “We’ve been training for months, and he’s got the accolade for being the first rescue. It turns out to be a puppy instead of a person.”
He said there were sharp rocks around the area, and the dog was later taken to a vet for treatment of cuts on its paw.
“The dog was fortunate to have reached Snapper Island, and equally fortunate that sea conditions were exceptionally calm at the time of the incident,” Mr Sullivan said.
“We had to make sure there wasn’t somebody in the water that the dog might have tried to chase, to rescue its owner,” he said.
He added that the dog likely swam around for 20 minutes to half an hour before it made it to shore.
“That would have taken a fair degree of stamina to be able to undertake that type of a swim.”
The dog is not believed to be microchipped.
The canine spent the night at the vet’s and was reunited with its owner on Tuesday morning, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. However, it remains in the care of Eurobodalla Shire Council as officers are inspecting the suitability of the owner’s property.
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