Icy Dog Saved! Polish Pup Rescued After Traveling 75 Miles on Baltic Sea Ice

I am a sucker for an awesome dog rescue story, and they don't get more dramatic — and happier — than the tale of a 44-pound dog currently gaining international attention for surviving a 75-mile treacherous trek on an ice floe down Poland's Vistula River.

According to The Associated Press, the drama began last Saturday when a firefighter in Grudziadz spotted the thick-skinned dog floating on a chunk of ice through the Vistula, which runs through the city. They tried to rescue him, but couldn't due to shifting ice sheets, and feared he was drifting toward death in icy water amid air temperatures that dipped to a seriously chilly 4 degrees below Fahrenheit.

But this dog clearly had luck — and stamina — on his side. Two days after firefighters failed to rescue him in Grudziadz the crew of the Baltica, a Polish ship of ocean scientists carrying out research, spotted him still on the ice sheet, but now only about 15 miles from the Baltic Sea. Determined to rescue the pup — since dubbed Baltic — the crew just barely pulled the dog to safety.

"It was really a tough struggle. It kept slipping into the water and crawling back on top of the ice. At one point it vanished underwater, under the ship and we thought it was the end, but it emerged again and crawled on an ice sheet," researcher Natalia Drgas told the AP.

Eventually, the crew lowered a pontoon down to the water and a crew member grabbed him by the scruff and hoisted him away from his icy prison. The poor little guy was so exhausted he couldn't muster the energy to shake the icy water off his fur, so he was dried and wrapped in blankets. After he warmed up he got a much-deserved massage and eventually got up to seek company. A vet who examined him deemed him noticeably scared, but in amazingly good shape without any signs of frostbite.

Now, Polish officials are searching for the dog's owner. We can only hope the owner is worthy of such an awesomely brave and lucky dog.

Photo courtesy of lumix2004 via stock.xchang