Dog Rescued From Ocean After 100-Mile Adventure

Amber, a retriever cross, swam to island during her 36 days on the lam in southern England
Posted Jun 3, 2025 5:54 AM CDT
Escaped Dog Rescued From Ocean After 100-Mile Journey
Amber rests following her epic adventure.   (KS Angels Rescue)

An adventurous dog was rescued in the nick of time on Saturday after covering 100 miles during five weeks on the run, including doggy-paddling to an island a mile off of England's southern coast. Amber, a five-year-old retriever cross, was initially rescued as a street pup in Qatar and brought to the UK by a charity, per the Guardian. She was placed with a family near Bramshaw, inside New Forest National Park, in the south of England, but stayed only one night. Jess Wadsworth was amazed to discover Amber had escaped the yard with an 8-foot-high deer fence on April 25. For the next 36 days, Amber was tracked through the national park, across Hampshire and Dorset, and to the coast, where she swam for a mile to reach Brownsea Island.

She spent four days there, helped by a resident who left out food for her, then attempted to swim back to the mainland, but may not have accounted for the tide. Two men in a boat saw her struggling on Saturday, per the BBC and Guardian. "She wasn't going to make the swim back so they turned the boat around," says Sam Collins of the KS Angels Rescue. "She hooked her paws on to the ladder and one of the lads jumped into the water and helped her out." Amber is said to be in good condition. "I have never known a dog that travels that many miles and survives," Wadsworth tells the Guardian. "What a girl!" KS Angels Rescue says the woman who befriended Amber on Brownsea Island is now interested in taking her on permanently. Hopefully, Amber will have a "calmer, more stable spirit" in the future, a co-founder says. (More dogs stories.)

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