Dog endures day in sea

Press, 16 January 1986, Page 2

Dog endures day in sea

PA Nelson A three-year-old border terrier called Herbert survived more than 30 hours in the sea after falling overboard in the Marlborough Sounds at the week-end. Herbert and his owner, Timothy Snadden, aged 12, of Nelson, were reunited on Monday after Herbert was found, still swimming, near D’Urville Island. Herbert went overboard from a launch Timothy’s family had been staying on near the island about 8 a.m.

on Sunday. Timothy’s father, Graham, said Herbert’s absence was not noticed for about four hours, as poor weather had occupied the family’s attention. “That was a really horrible moment,” Mr Snadden said of the time when he realised the dog had gone. The weather prevented them turning back to search. “Tim was upset when I told him, and I was pretty wretched myself.” They decided the next day

to take the chance of finding Herbert and set off with a fisherman friend from French Pass. “Tim told me that morning he knew it would be the best day or the worst day of his life,” Mr Snadden said. They did not expect to find Herbert in the water but at 2 p.m. on Monday they saw him about -300 m from the beach on the western side of D’Urville Island. Mr Snadden said that the dog just flopped into the bottom of the boat when they picked him out of the

Herbert has spent the last couple of days resting. His slightly thinner body and subdued air are the only clues to his ordeal.

“His is the real story—l’d give my eye teeth to know what happened in those 30 hours,” Mr Snadden said.

Undoubtedly what helped Herbert survive was his fitness, kept up by a daily hour-long run and plenty of swimming. It may be a little while though before this old sea dog feels recovered enough to do either.