Navy rescues puppy “lost at sea and presumed dead” for 5 weeks
The U.S. Navy has rescued a small and very hungry German Shepard puppy which had been lost at sea for five weeks and presumed dead.
Luna, a friendly dog, disappeared from a fishing vessel on Feb. 10 of this year off the coast of San Diego, Calif.
"On Feb 10, 2016, personnel assigned to Naval Auxiliary Landing Field San Clemente Island received a call for help from a fishing vessel. Nick Haworth (Luna's owner) reported that he and the crew were bringing in traps, and one moment Luna was there and the next she was gone. They were about 2 miles off the coast and he thought she may head for shore," said a Navy statement given to Scout Warrior.
After this incident, ships continued to search the waters nearby San Clemente Island for an entire week without finding Luna, only to determine the little puppy was "lost at sea and presumed dead."
"We searched the island. The initial radio call was taken by a Navy helicopter in the area," Sandy DeMunnik, spokeswoman for Naval Base Coronado, Calif., told Scout Warrior. Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 78 was the unit that received the call, she added.
"They fly MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters," she said.
Then, on March 17, Navy officials found Luna on the coast of the island sitting next to the road.
"They were shocked," the Navy statement said, because there are no domestic animals on the island because of the very sensitive environmental programs that take place there.
"Luna ran right up to the staff," Navy officials said.
Luna was examined by our wildlife biologist and found to be undernourished but otherwise uninjured and in good spirits, service officials added.
She will be reunited with a family friend of her owner who is out of town for work and unable to get home in time. When her owner returns to town, Luna will be reunited with him.
It is not clear how a young German Shepard would be able to survive for five weeks at sea with no food or shore.
"Luna swam somewhere between one and two miles. That is not smooth water out there. It is rough water," DeMunnik said. "The fact that she survived for five weeks in that water struck a chord with military personnel on the island because they know how treacherous the waters there can be."
Due to Luna's resilience and spirit, the Commanding Officer of Naval Base Coronado presented Luna with a military dog tag with four lines inscribed on it saying -- "Luna, keep the faith." "Keep the Faith" is the moto of the Navy's SERE, Search Evasion rescue escape training.
The spirit of the saying is, among other things, designed to connote that in the event someone is missing, fellow service members will never stop searching, DeMunnik added.
"We've all been walking around smiling for three days because she survived," she said.
