Many of us are familiar with the movie 8 Below starring Paul Walker. For those of us who are not, the plot of the movie revolves around a team of sled dogs who are left in the Antarctic by their owners during a storm because there was no room for them on the plane. The plan was to come back for the dogs after the storm was over, but it takes Paul Walker almost six months to find a sponsor to help him rescue his team. Many of the people in the movie assume the dogs to be dead, but Paul Walkers character has to be sure. They find five of the dogs alive. They survived six months on their own.
Many of us would find this hard to believe, but this movie was based on actual events. It makes it easier to believe when you hear stories like the one that happened in Australia last week. A family and their pet dog were sailing off of the coast of Queensland, when because of the rough waters, their family pet, a dog named Sophie Tucker, fell overboard.
After frantically looking for the dog,he family assumed she had drowned and they reluctantly returned home. However, Sophie began swimming what would be five miles to St. Bees Island, an island mostly uninhabited.
Sophies owner, Jan Griffiths, contacted island rangers after she heard that they had captured a dog and brought it to the mainland, hoping that by some chance it could be her family’s lost dog; it was.
Sophie Tucker had survived four months on her own on St. Bees Island. How? She had been killing and feeding off of baby goats. Witnesses who had seen her described her as thin, and unhealthy looking. After seeing her again a few weeks later, she was looking much more like a normal dog---well fed.
Sophie is an Australian Cattle Dog, a breed that is usually an outside dog that likes to have a job. However, Sophie Tucker was an inside pet. The owners were very proud of their pampered inside pet, "She surprised us all. She was a house dog and look what she's done, she's swum over five nautical miles, she's managed to live off the land all on her own," said Griffiths.
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What an amazing story. I actually did not know 8 Below was based on a true story, but that is a good movie! I think it would be almost impossible for an inside dog to be able to live on his own, but you know they do have instincts. My dog was an inside dog and she loved to eat. I know if she were lost, she'd find the first thing that smelled good. We lost her for a day in Sioux City, IA and eventually found her at Dairy Queen. She has a sweet tooth. :)For Sophie, it's a good thing she didn't eat anything poisonous.
ReplyDeleteI honestly heard this on the news, and couldn't believe it. Honestly, I never thought this would happen to anybody or in real life. This is something in a movie. I never saw the movie "8 Below." But, I heard it is really sad. Did you happen to find any pictures of Sophie? I am so curious to see what she looks like. We actually just got a puppy this weekend, and I love my Bailey already. Losing a pet is such a difficult thing, I can't imagine what it would of felt like to know your dog fell overboard. I'd rather know my dog got hit by a car, but not drown in water. Which obviously wasn't the case in this story.
ReplyDeleteAnything can happen* anything!