Enable JavaScript to get the best experience.

Categories

News Latest weather & sport news Articles How-to guides across every sport Help Help, tricks & tips

Castaway dog turns up after 8km swim and 4 months on island

1:00 AM Tue 7 Apr 2009 GMT

'Sophie the sea dog, happy to be home and back eating premium mince, rather than old goat.' .

A family dog has reportedly survived more than four months living off goats on a northern Queensland island.

Sophie Tucker, a cattle dog belonging to the Griffith family, was presumed dead after falling from their boat off the coast of Mackay in November.

But the Courier Mail reports the dog swam over 9km to St Bees Island on the southern end of the Whitsundays, where she was spotted by several locals.

Friends of the family suggested the dog - who island rangers thought was wild - might be their pet.

After it was captured last week, the Griffith family met the rangers' boat as it returned to the mainland and were amazed to find it was indeed Sophie inside the cage.

'We called the dog and she started whimpering and banging the cage . they let her out and she just about flattened us,' Jan Griffith was reported as saying.

'She wriggled around like a mad thing.'

Mrs Griffith said some locals believed the dog was regularly swimming back and forth several hundred metres between St Bees and Keswick Island to hunt.

by Media Services

Newsfeed supplied by

Your local Change

Sydney (Coastal), NSW · Updated 12:30 am

Feels 10 °C · 7 kn N

Sailing Articles

QLD Coast in Winter: Dry Season Tactics

QLD Coast in Winter: Dry Season Tactics

Overnight at Anchor: Setting Up Right

Overnight at Anchor: Setting Up Right

VHF Radio on the Water: Channels and Calls

VHF Radio on the Water: Channels and Calls

laurie

Buy & Sell

2013 Severne 140-190 Metal Boom

Severne 140 - 190 metal boom in good condition. Used mainly windfoiling on...

$200

2023 Sunova Tr3 Tecc

6' 1"

sunova foil board and mast with wing and all accessories,shaped by Marcus...

$900

2025 Cloud 9 Fs900 Black Series

900 cm

FS900 Black Series front wing (foil) for sale, as new condition, no scratches...

$950

Wave Chaser Gtr2 High Performance Surf S

250 cm

Length: 250cm (8’2) Width: 75cm (28.5”) Thick: 9.5cm (3.8”) Volume: 101l Design...

$300

2021 Ozone Enduro V3

10 metre

Ozone Enduro 10m V3 2021 kite. Great condition, well looked after all-round...

$750

2023 Cabrinha Motox - 24 North Bar - Harness -Pump

7 metre

kite has only been used about 10 times (no repairs and looks crisp) also comes...

$850

2023 DC Custom Wing/Sup 126 Litres

6.6 cm

Custom Dale Chapman wing/sup board. 6'6 x 27" x 126 litres. Learnt to wing on...

$699

View more...

Weather

Melbourne weather

Brisbane weather

Adelaide weather

Canberra weather

Location Search

Activities

Stand up paddle

About

Support

Copyright © 1997-2026 Seabreeze.com.au