German Shepherd Puppy Disappears At Sea, Miraculously Appears 5 Weeks Later

March 18, 2016

A fisherman’s loyal pet dog fell off a commercial fishing boat and was presumed dead last month. On Tuesday, she was miraculously found alive and well.

San Diego fisherman Nick Haworth usually brings Luna, his beloved German shepherd, along when he goes out fishing. When his blue-eyed pet fell overboard on February 10 while he was working on a boat two miles off San Clemente island, he was devastated, reported the Associated Press.

After a fruitless attempt to find her in the dark waters, he notified Navy personnel.

“They were pulling in their traps, and one minute Luna was there, and the next minute she was gone,” Naval Base Coronado representative Sandy DeMunnik told the AP. “They looked everywhere for her. They couldn’t see her. The water was dark, and she’s dark.”

Haworth spent two days searching the waters, and the Navy staff continued the search for about a week. Unable to find her, the Navy presumed Luna was lost and drowned at sea.

That was until she was later spotted by staff arriving to work at Naval Auxiliary Landing Field, a Navy-owned training base on San Clemente Island about 70 miles off San Diego nearly 5 weeks later.

“She was just sitting there wagging her tail,” DeMunnik said. “It looks like she was surviving on rodents and dead fish that had washed up.”

After ensuring she was in good health, Luna was later flown to a Navy base on the mainland to be reunited with her owner. Haworth was reportedly overwhelmed with emotion after hearing the good news.

The survivor dog got her lost tag replaced by the Navy bearing her name and a message that carries the lesson in the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape course taught to Navy and Marine personnel on the island: “Keep the Faith.”

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