Dramatic Rescue on Muskegon Lake
A dog named Max is going to have a great story to tell all of his buddies when he returns home after a scary night on Muskegon lake…
The dog was missing for over 36 hours when luckily a tug boat came across the dog floating on a block of ice that had broken off. The guys on board the tugboat Barbara Andrie couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the lone pup adrift in the middle of the lake.
The dog stranded on a small ice floe suddenly appeared in their path, said the boat’s captain that night, Dave Wellington.
It was around 8:30 p.m. and pitch dark when the dog suddenly appeared in the boat’s spotlight.
“I’ve got to say, my heart almost sank,” Wellington said. “I almost thought I ran him over at first.”
Everybody was like, ‘No question, we’re going to get him,’” Wellington said. “We weren’t going to leave him out there. There’s no way. We were going to get him.”
He slowly backed the 125-foot tug up, careful not to disturb the delicate ice surrounding the stranded dog.
“He was way out there, way out in the middle of the lake,” said deck hand Craig Benedetti. “I’m not sure he would have made it through the night.”
A Facebook post from the owner indicated Max had gone missing the previous day, Sunday, March 1, between 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. He last was seen near Muskegon Catholic Central schools, reported the owner.
The crew posed for a few photos with Max before Wellington and Benedetti delivered him to his grateful owners.
(Courtesy Matt Babbitt)
(Courtesy Dave Wellington)
