{"id":710279,"date":"2026-06-02T11:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T11:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/710279\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T11:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T11:44:10","slug":"not-a-paw-swimmer-dog-rescued-from-island-off-australian-coast-after-being-swept-into-ocean-nsw-south-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/710279\/","title":{"rendered":"Not a paw swimmer: dog rescued from island off Australian coast after being swept into ocean | NSW south coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, radio operators in Batemans Bay along the New South Wales<\/a> south coast got a call they hadn\u2019t had before: a dog had been swept off the rocks and was in the ocean in distress.<\/p>\n

Rod Ingamells, the unit commander of the local Marine Rescue NSW team, was one of the first to hop in a rescue vessel. But by the time his team reached the area, the dog had swum nearly 800 metres across the bay to nearby Snapper Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought originally it was going to be easy, but it\u2019s a difficult little spot,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of our crew members who was a bit of a dog lover, she went straight into the water. But he decided to play hide and seek \u2026 and he ran around to the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Batemans Bay team has been training since September wth two new rescue water craft<\/a> that were delivered last year. The jetskis came in handy amid extremely rough conditions that made it difficult for a larger boat to approach the rocky island.<\/p>\n

After about an hour, a volunteer was able to coax the dog on to the back of a jetski near an area called Smugglers Cove, a rocky outcrop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put him on to the ski and he was a bit like the drover\u2019s dog,\u201d Ingamells said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been training for months, and he\u2019s got the accolade for being the first rescue. It turns out to be a puppy instead of a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added the dog hasn\u2019t been properly identified so far, but a good Samaritan had called in saying they believed the pup\u2019s name was Oscar.<\/p>\n

Ingamells cited a tight-knit community for the quick rescue.<\/p>\n

The dog is whisked to safety by volunteers on Monday. Photograph: Marine Rescue NSW<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were all these people all on the radio, saying \u2018We\u2019ll bring out a tinny,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI think everyone in the bay at one stage wanted to save the dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oscar, or whoever he is, has since been taken to the vet with some cut paws due to the rocks on Snapper Island. Officials are in the process of reuniting him with his owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil rangers report the dog did not have a microchip but the owners have made contact,\u201d an spokesperson with Eurobodalla shire council said. \u201cRangers hope to reunite the dog with its family following a yard inspection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say the dog was very lucky and the event highlights the importance of ensuring pets are registered and identifiable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marine Rescue volunteers with the dog who is being reunited with his owner. Photograph: Marine Rescue NSW<\/p>\n

The dog isn\u2019t the first animal Ingamells and his team have rescued. He has participated in efforts to free whales from entanglements, aided a dolphin in distress, saved a kangaroo that was chased into the water by a dog. And during floods in the region, Ingamells worked to rescue sheep swept away by the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re wondering what\u2019s coming next,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter, we\u2019re there to do a job. We\u2019re all volunteers here and we\u2019ve got a really good community. They keep their eyes open all along the coast. If they see things, they notify us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday, radio operators in Batemans Bay along the New South Wales south coast got a call they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-710279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}