Boating Family Surprised by Animal They Found Swimming Miles Out to Sea
A family in Honolulu couldn’t believe their eyes when, during a boating excursion, they saw a small black boar treading water in the ocean. A video posted to Instagram details the entire event.
Initially, the Mellor family thought what they saw was a wooden log floating alongside them, matriarch June told McClatchy News (via The Sacramento Bee) in a text message. Figuring it must be a missing dog, they directed their boat for the pint-sized swimmer. They were astonished to realize the animal was a small boar (though they initially thought it to be a farm pig).
“Its eyes were pleading for help,” she recalled.
Their video shows the boar desperately swimming some distance from the shore of Oahu. As one of June’s sons fashioned a rope and hooked it to the boar, they pulled the stranded sailor aboard. The family was nervous that the boar might behave aggressively with humans so close, but June said, “The minute she was on the deck she just collapsed.” She covered the sunburnt animal with her sarong and stood above it while it slept, to shield it from further rays.
“By this time I had named her Miracle because it was a miracle she survived for who knows how long and a miracle that we saw her and could help,” June said.
The Mellors became worried when Miracle wouldn’t eat or drink anything, and stopped responding to efforts to wake them up. At this point, they took Miracle off the boat and released her in a nearby patch of wilderness.
“As soon as her feet touched the grass, she perked up,” June recalled. “She suddenly was alert and sniffing all around. We watched her sniff the ground and leaves and saw her tail move swiftly. I took it to mean she was comfortable. She didn’t run, she just slowly walked into the wilderness and that was it.”
While Miracle’s presence in their life was brief, the Mellors and their children will likely never forget the day they rescued a boar from drowning.
It is, of course, worth noting that wild boars are considered an invasive species in Hawaii. This one, however, had a lucky day.
