It takes a lot to shock Navy sailors and officials since they’ve seen just about everything during training and rescue missions, yet to say these rescuers were stunned to find the dog who had fallen into the ocean over a month ago would be an understatement.
On the morning of February 10th, fisherman Nick Hayworth had taken Luna, his 1-year-old German Shepherd puppy, out on the boat with him about 2 miles off the coast of San Clemente Island. Hayworth and his crew had been busy bringing in traps, and when he finally looked around for Luna, she had completely vanished.
It was presumed that she had fallen overboard, and Hayworth immediately reported her missing to the nearby naval base.
“He told us Luna was a very powerful swimmer and that he was 90 percent sure she’d head for shore,” said Sandy DeMunnik, public affairs officer for the US Navy’s Naval Base Coronado. “So our staff searched the island, but with no luck. He stayed in the area for two more days to look for her, and after a week, we considered her lost at sea and presumed dead.”
Yet just this week, the Navy staff spotted Luna sitting on the side of the road as they started arriving to work on an island nearly 80 miles away from the San Diego coast.
“They saw Luna just sitting on the side of the road wagging her tail,” she said. “Keep in mind, there are no domesticated animals on the island, so it was a stunning sight.”
Amazingly, Luna was completely unharmed and only slightly underweight when she was found by the Navy officers, who contacted Hayworth to let him know the good news. Hayworth had been out in the middle of a lake when he got the call, but was overwhelmed when he heard Luna was alive. “He had to do all sorts of acrobatics to get signal, but he was ecstatic — jumping up and down,” DeMunnik said.
Can you believe Luna managed to survive swimming nearly 80 miles to an island off the coast, and surviving on her own for over a month? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and please SHARE this with friends on Facebook.
[Featured image credit: NBC San Diego]
U.S. Navy Miraculously Finds Puppy After Being Lost At Sea For Over A Month is an article from: LifeDaily