Blondie
08-01-2002, 12:52 PM
By The Associated Press
SEA GIRT, N.J. - It’s no fish story - one angler really caught a pit bull.
Twenty-one-year-old Keith Blauvelt and his family had been fishing off the coast on Sunday and were about to head home when he saw something in the water.
“I thought it was a piece of wood and then I realized it was moving,” Blauvelt told the Asbury Park Press of Neptune. “I said, ’I think I see a dog,’ and my dad looked at me like I was crazy. But my brother said, ’It is a dog.”’
The animal, an 11-year-old American pit bull terrier named Rok-C, apparently fell off another boat while its owner was scuba diving with friends. Authorities estimate that the 40-pound dog was in the water for at least 25 minutes before Blauvelt saw it.
Rok-C was heading east at the time, but she then began paddling toward Blauvelt’s boat. He reached into the water, scooped up the panting pet, toweled her off and brought her back to shore.
The family alerted the Coast Guard about their discovery about the same time Lorraine Rooker noticed her dog was missing.
“It was like terror,” Rooker said. “I was looking in places where she couldn’t even be, because I was just hoping that I’d find her somewhere.”
Rooker said the Coast Guard informed her after a few minutes that the dog had been found, and she was reunited with Rok-C.
“I’m glad that the people who found her had enough guts to pick up and not just leave her in the water,” Rooker said. “I feel like the luckiest lady in the world.”
SEA GIRT, N.J. - It’s no fish story - one angler really caught a pit bull.
Twenty-one-year-old Keith Blauvelt and his family had been fishing off the coast on Sunday and were about to head home when he saw something in the water.
“I thought it was a piece of wood and then I realized it was moving,” Blauvelt told the Asbury Park Press of Neptune. “I said, ’I think I see a dog,’ and my dad looked at me like I was crazy. But my brother said, ’It is a dog.”’
The animal, an 11-year-old American pit bull terrier named Rok-C, apparently fell off another boat while its owner was scuba diving with friends. Authorities estimate that the 40-pound dog was in the water for at least 25 minutes before Blauvelt saw it.
Rok-C was heading east at the time, but she then began paddling toward Blauvelt’s boat. He reached into the water, scooped up the panting pet, toweled her off and brought her back to shore.
The family alerted the Coast Guard about their discovery about the same time Lorraine Rooker noticed her dog was missing.
“It was like terror,” Rooker said. “I was looking in places where she couldn’t even be, because I was just hoping that I’d find her somewhere.”
Rooker said the Coast Guard informed her after a few minutes that the dog had been found, and she was reunited with Rok-C.
“I’m glad that the people who found her had enough guts to pick up and not just leave her in the water,” Rooker said. “I feel like the luckiest lady in the world.”