Humboldt County photographer Christine Connerly captured this impressive clip of the local Coast Guard as they conducted a helicopter rescue of a dog that managed to get stranded in the middle of a river.
According to her description, the dog had somehow fallen into California’s Mad River near its mouth. The black dog was swimming toward the open Pacific Ocean when the helicopter crew arrived. A Coast Guard member was dropped into the water where they made contact with the dog, assisting the animal to the shore.
Huge props to the Coast Guard crew for getting out there and helping this animal. Some might argue that this is a waste of resources, but we would argue A) dogs are man’s best friend and always deserved to be saved and B) it’s at least a good training opportunity for the rescue crew.
We don’t know exactly how this dog wound up in the water, but this incident serves as a good reminder to always keep your dog on a leash unless you’re in an area where you know it’s safe for the animal to be off-leash and you have solid verbal recall of the pet. You definitely don’t want to watch your pup get washed out to see.
