A black German Shepherd named Bruce has quite a tale to tell after being rescued from the North Sea. The dog drifted in an inflatable kayak off the coast of North East England on Sunday when a sudden gust of wind blew the vessel away from his owner in the village of Bamburgh, according to the BBC.
The distressed owner contacted the coast guard, which alerted nearby tour operators and fishing boats to join the search for the lost pup. After a two-hour search, a local sightseeing boat miraculously found Bruce about 2.5 nautical miles (4 km) north of Bamburgh Beach.
“It was like a needle in a haystack,” said the boat’s captain, Jimmy Reid, to the BBC. “The owner tried to swim out after the dog. In my opinion, he did the responsible thing. He just wasn’t catching up, and he turned around. He went back to the beach, called the coast guard, and it went from there.”
Strong Winds Pushing Kayak Out Further
Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours described in a blog post on its website that the “conditions were far from ideal. A strong westerly wind was pushing relentlessly out to sea, carrying the kayak further away with every passing minute.” Hope was beginning to fade as the two-man crew aboard the Serenity 4 continued their search until they spotted the kayak but did not see the dog from afar.
“For a few terrifying moments, they feared they were too late,” the blog post said. “Then, just as panic began to set in, a wet head suddenly appeared. The dog was still there.”
Dog Almost Slipped from Their Grasp
Skipper Reid manoeuvred their boat alongside the drifting kayak, while crewman Aaron Fordy “reached out and grabbed the dog by its harness,” but the frightened pup “slipped free and plunged back into the sea,” the blog post said. Fordy managed to grab hold of “the dog by the scruff of its neck as it disappeared beneath the water. The force nearly pulled him overboard.”
“His body slipped over the edge of the vessel, with only one foot hooked around the doorway keeping him attached to the boat.” Reid grabbed hold of Fordy’s leg, and the two men pulled the exhausted dog safely aboard their boat.
In a video posted on Facebook by Serenity Farne Island Boat Tours, Bruce is seen wrapped in a towel as he’s praised for being “a good boy.” The boat, which had dropped off its passengers at the Farne Islands before the search, returned to pick them up before heading back to shore, Chronicle Live reported. Bruce was later reunited with his owner, who thanked Reid and Fordy.
