After the Coast Guard gave up trying to rescue a black Labrador puppy named Kimberly last week, Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC enlisted airboat captain Tony Muscioni to go out on the ice and grab the stray pooch.
When Muscioni and Channel 3’s Mike O’Mara approached Kimberly. Muscioni actually got out of the airboat and stepped on the ice to save the months-old pup. Photojournalist George Payamgis, while still filming, grabbed the dog by the collar and brought her onto the boat.
The animal, exhausted and cold, sat in O’Mara’s lap during the ride back to shore.
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Kimberly had been out on the ice for several days. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports the dog was spotted Thursday. However, the Coast Guard, which said the situation was not as desperate as it looked, tried a rescue, but said the ice was too brittle.
“If the dog wanted to walk off the ice, it could walk off the ice,” Petty Officer Lauren Laughlin told the Plain Dealer.