{"id":406121,"date":"2026-07-21T04:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T04:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/406121\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T04:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T04:06:16","slug":"watch-dog-missing-for-weeks-found-swimming-in-san-francisco-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/406121\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Dog missing for weeks found swimming in San Francisco Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit: Instagram\/@menlopark.firedistrict and eastpaloaltopd<\/p>\n

A small dog missing for weeks has been rescued from open water after being spotted swimming in San Francisco Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The dog, named Prieta, fled her home after being startled by Fourth of July fireworks, according to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.<\/p>\n

Emergency services were alerted on July 16 when a passer-by saw the dog paddling in the water near the city of East Palo Alto, about 35 miles south of San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prieta had been swimming for about 40 minutes before rescuers reached her. The passer-by who spotted her said she “ran out into the water and just kept swimming”.<\/p>\n

\"Prieta<\/p>\n

Prieta was pulled from the water after an operation involving multiple emergency crews<\/p>\n

A joint rescue effort was launched by local fire crews, police and animal welfare officers to navigate what officials described as a “challenging water rescue”.<\/p>\n

Ground crews initially used binoculars to track Prieta before deploying a drone to pinpoint her exact coordinates, approximately half a mile off the coast.<\/p>\n

Video footage released by police captured the exhausted dog paddling through the water as birds hovered overhead.<\/p>\n

\"Prieta<\/p>\n

Prieta was swimming in the bay for 40 minutes before she was rescued<\/p>\n

The East Palo Alto Police Department joked: “Tiny dog escapes marsh, survives aerial assault by an organised gang of seagulls, and is rescued by the Menlo Park Fire Department. 12\/10 action movie.”<\/p>\n

Rescuers aboard a boat reached the tired swimmer, scooped her out of the waves and wrapped her in a warm jacket before bringing her back to land.<\/p>\n

\"Prieta<\/p>\n

Prieta was wrapped in a warm jacket after being rescued from the water<\/p>\n

\"Authorities<\/p>\n

Authorities described the rescue as ‘challenging’<\/p>\n

Prieta was taken to the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA shelter. Staff said she arrived “exhausted, scared, and with facial injuries from the ordeal”, before veterinarians tended to her scratches and settled her with a meal and water.<\/p>\n

A scan of her microchip allowed staff to contact her owners, who rushed to the shelter and were reunited with Prieta just an hour later.<\/p>\n

\"Prieta\"<\/p>\n

The owner thanked the rescue team, saying they were ‘forever grateful’ for bringing their dog home<\/p>\n

After the rescue, the Menlo Park Fire Protection District praised the teamwork involved, posting: “Thank you to everyone who helped reunite this furry friend with its family!”<\/p>\n

The Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA said: “We’re grateful to have played a part in bringing her home.”<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Instagram\/@menlopark.firedistrict and eastpaloaltopd A small dog missing for weeks has been rescued from open water after being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[162822,162824,162821,162823,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-406121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-east-palo-alto-police-department","tag-menlo-park-fire-department","tag-menlo-park-fire-protection-district","tag-prieta","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}