In April 2019, workers at an oil rig in the Gulf of Thailand saw something strange swimming out in the water. Once the creature got closer, the workers realized it was a dog!
The workers were all shocked—the oil rig was 137 miles from shore. They didn’t understand how the dog got so far out to sea.
The workers called to the dog, who desperately swam towards their voices. She climbed onto the bars below the oil rig, shivering and trying to get warm. As the dog clung to the bars, the workers tried to figure out how to get her onto the oil rig itself.
“After she made it onto the bars below the rig she didn’t cry or bark at all,” Vitisak Payalaw, an offshore planner for Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production Ltd, wrote on Facebook. “We looked for a way to help her, and in the end, decided to use the rope to tie around her body to lift her up.”
The workers threw the rope down, and they were able to catch the pup.
They then hauled her up onto the oil rig. The dog was exhausted from her ordeal, but she was still as sweet as could be. She let all the workers pet her, and she also ate all the food they gave her.
“When we gave her water and minerals her symptoms improved. She started sitting up and walking normally,” Payalaw wrote.
The workers called a local rescue group, Watchdog Thailand, who said that they would come and pick up the pup.
The rescuers raced over to the oil rig in their boat, and they took the little dog back to their shelter. Before they left, they took a heartwarming video of the dog with her rescuers.
Back on dry land, Watchdog Thailand took the pup to a vet, where she got a much-needed bath. The dog was still tired, but she seemed to be in good spirits. She was also healthy.
“The boat arrived at 10am and the dog was in good spirits. We took her to the vets to be checked and she was found to be healthy. Everybody who played a part in co-coordinating the rescue has done a brilliant job,” Watchdog Thailand wrote on Facebook.
Watchdog Thailand still isn’t sure how the dog ended up getting so far out to sea—their best guess is that she was on a fishing boat and fell overboard. Nobody has come forward yet to claim her, but Watchdog Thailand is hopeful that her owners will appear.
If her owners don’t come forward, Vitisak Payalaw has said that he’s interested in adopting her. The two quickly bonded when they were on the oil rig together.
This pup is an incredible animal who was determined to survive! We’re so glad this dog found a group of kindhearted oil rig workers to help her.
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