[ SHOWGSD-L ] Overboard pet found
- From: helenfranklin520@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:56:46 -0400
SYDNEY (AFP) â?? A pet dog that fell overboard in rough seas off Australia has
been reunited with its owners after surviving alone on an island for four
months, reports said.
Sophie Tucker, apparently named after a late US entertainer, fell overboard as
Jan Griffith and her family sailed through choppy waters off the northeast
Queensland coast in November.
The dog was believed to have drowned and Griffith said the family was
devastated.
But out of sight of the family, Sophie Tucker was swimming doggedly and finally
made it to St Bees Island, five nautical miles away, and began the sort of life
popularized by the TV reality show "Survivor."
She was returned to her family last week when Griffith contacted rangers who
had captured a dog that had been living off feral goats on the largely
uninhabited island, in the faint hope it might be their long-lost pet.
When the Griffiths met the rangers' boat bringing the dog to the mainland they
found that it was indeed Sophie Tucker on board.
"We called the dog and she started whimpering and banging the cage and they let
her out and she just about flattened us," Griffith told the national AAP news
agency.
"She wriggled around like a mad thing."
Griffith said that when the dog was first spotted on the island she had been in
poor condition.
"And then all of a sudden she started to look good and it was when the rangers
had found baby goat carcasses so she'd started eating baby goats," she said.
Sophie Tucker, a member of t
he Australian cattle dog breed, had been quick to readjust to the comforts of
home, complete with air-conditioning, Griffiths said.
"She surprised us all. She was a house dog and look what she's done, she's swum
over five nautical miles, she's managed to live off the land all on her own,"
Griffiths said.
"We wish she could talk, we truly do."
============================================================================
POST is Copyrighted 2008. All material remains the property of the original
author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind
are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the
Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY
MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY
FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE
PROSECUTED.
For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx
VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org
NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/
============================================================================
Other related posts:
