This is the moment a quick-thinking dog saves the life of a poor marine animal who desperately needed help. The dog hero – a springer spaniel, called Leia – discovered the baby porpoise stranded onshore, and started barking, which lead his owner to it. The man then successfully saved the helpless animal.
A photography enthusiast named Rich Wilcock was taking his 2-year-old dog for a walk along the shoreline near Criccieth, Wales when suddenly, the dog was barking uncontrollably just like she was trying to drag her owner’s attention. Following Leia, Rich was surprised to discover a beached marine animal.
“I was photographing the beautiful scenery when Leia started to make a right old fuss,” Rich told Daily Post. “She kept coming up to me, barking and nudging me, she must have smelt the dolphin from a mile off. At first, I thought it was a baby shark, it was only about one and a half foot but on a closer inspection I could see the blowhole on top of his head and realized it was a dolphin.”
Though he eventually identified the animal as a dolphin, a marine official at the Seawatch Foundation said it is more likely to be a baby porpoise in fact. Those are marine mammals that look like dolphins, but they are in fact closely related to belugas and narwhals.
Be that as it may, the most important thing is that Rich saved the baby’s life, as he guided it back to deep waters. Then, he and his dog stayed on that beach for at least one hour more, to make sure the animal is safe.
“There was nobody around for miles so I did what I could as gently as possible,” Rick explained. “I lifted him gently under the belly and popped him back amongst the waves and he swam away into deeper water.”
He also said that Leia got some extra treats when they got back home because she was the one that actually saved the poor animal. “She is a very intelligent dog, more intelligent than most,” Rich added.
