Photo Credit ( Pixabay )
The positive news for today originates from Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
A puppy named Ellie was found swimming 1.5 miles off Fort Myers Beach and was saved in an incredible rescue. Between Fort Myers Beach and Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel, a couple first spotted the ailing dog during a dinner cruise, which is when the dramatic rescue began.
Dog that was saved from the sea
Ellie / Photograph by WINK News
Among those who saw Ellie was Terry Johns, skipper of the Sanibel Harbor Princess.
“I looked out and saw something in the water, then heard people shouting, ‘dog, dog, dog’,” Johns recalled.
Johns and his crew promptly responded to the distress call and gathered people to save the stranded dog.
Johns wondered how Ellie got to be so far from the coast.
We have fairly strong currents at this time of year. He said, “She might have washed off, but it’s more likely that she slipped off someone’s boat and they were unaware that she was missing.
After bringing Ellie back to land, the team took her to a veterinarian, who found that her microchip wasn’t functioning properly. Johns got in touch with WINK News to share the amazing rescue tale because she was determined to assist find her family. Ellie’s owners, Ben and Kathleen Baker, saw the news piece and were delighted to see Ellie again.
Ellie’s owners described their terrifying encounter. She disappeared as they were playing with her on their yacht one moment.
“I stopped teasing her to observe the traffic as I was driving beneath the Sanibel bridge. My wife inquired, ‘Where’s Ellie?’ when we crossed the bridge and got into the Gulf. I put the boat in neutral right away, but she was nowhere to be seen. We conducted a zigzag search,” Ben Baker remarked.
The Bakers did not stop looking for hours, long into the night, until their boat’s fuel ran out. They started to think the worst.
“I simply assumed that was it. “I’ve probably cried more in the last 18 hours than I have in years, and I’m 72 years old,” Baker said.
When they saw Ellie on WINK News, their dejection gave way to happiness.
“You started the news at 5:30 with her [Ellie], and that’s when we made some phone calls,” added Ben.
