The Chevron crew that first realized that the little brown pup struggling for its life near an offshore oil drilling platform assumed he fell off a fishing trawler.
Vitisak Payalaw, an offshore planner for Chevron Thailand Exploration & Production, couldn’t believe his eyes when he first spied the dog in the water of the Gulf of Thailand 135 miles from the coastal town of Songkhla.
There wasn’t much time left – he had been treading water and couldn’t do it much longer
“I thought that if we didn’t move quickly, I would not be able to help him,” Payalaw told CNN.
The crew got together to attempt a rescue, but their first few attempts failed in the choppy water.
They tried to reel him in to no avail, but the dog managed to cling to the platform, instead of being dragged out to sea.
“His eyes were so sad,” Payalaw said. “He just kept looking up just like he wanted to say, ‘please help me.’”
And help him they did. They didn’t give up until they managed to secure him with a rope and pull him to safety.
By the time they got him on a solid foundation, he was shaking and exhausted, unable to move otherwise due to exhaustion.
The crew cleaned him up, dried him off, and made sure he had food and water.
They named him Boonrod, which means “he has done good karma and that helps him to survive,” Payalaw told NPR.
Boonrod is an aspin, a breed native to the Philippines.
When the next boat came out to the rig, the men sent him back to shore to see a vet.
Then he was sent to an animal shelter to see if they could find this poor pup a home.
“A vessel transporting the dog arrived onshore at around 10 a.m.,” Payalaw posted to his Facebook page. “His overall condition has improved. He is getting stronger and can smile.’’
It was clear that Payalaw had bonded with the pup he helped save, so he decided that if Boonrod was still around when he got back home, he would adopt the pup himself.
And that’s precisely what happened.
“I’m very very, happy with my new dog,” Payalaw told The Dodo. “He’s a good dog for me and a good dog for my family, too.” Payalaw says while he’s not married, Boorod has become “like a son” to him.
The two boys are living happily back on land and Boonrod now has all the love he could possibly want.
It’s certainly a far cry from treading water out in the middle of an ocean and being passed over for weeks at the shelter after that.
And while Payalaw and Boonrod have seen some celebrity as a result of their dramatic story, there’s no chance you’ll see them doing anything other than posting some photos online from their perfectly normal life.
“My desire is to see him live a normal life. I don’t want to see him overexposed on TV shows. That would intrude on his privacy,” Payalaw told The Bangkok Post.
And it’s clear Boonrod likes his privacy!
While dog-lovers had asked if he would like help with the unexpected costs he incurred from unexpectedly getting a new dog, Payalaw told people not to worry. He posted a message on his Facebook account saying “I will take full responsibility for everything. Do not worry.”
Be sure to scroll down below to see some of the footage from Boonrod’s lucky rescue.
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