Golden retriever missing for 2 weeks found safe in New Jersey bay
Anything is paws-ible.
Chunk, a golden retriever who went missing two weeks ago, was rescued Tuesday from a New Jersey bay and reunited with his humans, WABC-TV reports.
New Jersey State Police Troopers Ryan Koehler and Vincent Ferdinandi, of Point Pleasant Station, retrieved the 3-year-old pooch safe and sound from Barnegat Bay near Mantoloking Bridge in Brick Township, about 70 miles south of Manhattan, after reports of a dog swimming in the body of water, according to the outlet.
“He ran into the woods with his toy,” Chunk’s owner, Jim Zangara, told the outlet, noting “he might’ve been startled by somebody.”
Chunk was reported missing from Brick on June 6, leaving Marie Zangara to wonder, “Did he get hit by a car, [is he] in the woods dying?” she recalled to the outlet.
Thanks to posters put up in town, a pair of joggers recognized Chunk when they witnessed him jump into the water early Tuesday, according to the outlet.
Jim Mathis, who was fishing nearby, told WABC-TV he moved his boat closer to the pup, who “kept trying to back away” but began heading toward land as Mathis “backed off.”
He did manage to grab Chunk’s collar — and contacted his owners — before the dog swam too far.
The troopers meanwhile “positioned our boat, got [the] line ready, acted as a leash,” Koehler told WABC, adding they put the line around Chunk and led him up.
Noting Chunk is fine, save for “some mats in his fur” and being “covered in ticks,” Zangara told the outlet she does not “have the words to say thanks for all the support.”
