A dog stranded off the Angus coast made a startling recovery after being rescued from the North Sea’s freezing waters.
Arbroath lifeboat crewmen rescued black Labrador Jasper from the water of Carnoustie bay after the dog had spent time thought to be up to 45 minutes fighting to stay afloat.
The nine-year-old’s owners, a local couple, alerted the coastguard and police after Jasper swam a quarter of a mile out to the nearest creel flag, then stopped moving.
Helmsman Neil Swankie recounted the episode, which unfolded early on Saturday afternoon.
”We were paged for the callout and the coastguard said there was a dog in distress at Carnoustie bay, just opposite the leisure centre,” he told The Courier.
”It was a quick launch. We got down there in 12 to 14 minutes, saw the dog straight away and he was clung on the nearest creel flag to the shore. I’m pretty positive the dog had its mouth over the float to keep him up.”
Mr Swankie said it seemed as if Jasper was tangled in the netting at the flag, which could have saved his life.
”The two of us managed to pull him on board and he seemed happy as could be to be on board.”
The owners waited on the beach with police and the local coastguard, aware any attempt to swim out would likely prove fatal.
”It was too far to go out and swim, exposed to the shock of the cold water,” Mr Swankie added. ”The lady owner was pretty upset and had been crying, but was overjoyed to see the dog again. She said he’s not getting off the lead again.”
Arbroath RNLI operations manager Alex Smith said: ”We got a call from Fife Ness asking for a launch as a dog had been in distress. It had swum out and was way out of its depth we reckon it was at least a quarter of a mile out.”
”It grabbed a hold of a creel and was hanging on to that with its paws over the top, obviously exhausted.
”The owners were obviously delighted to have their dog back alive and there was a lot of doubt among us because we didn’t know how long it was out there.”