Even the gentlest of animals can show they have the killer instinct when it comes to survival.  While we have become used to dogs as being domesticated and docile pets, one dog has proved that deep down inside there still lurks the survival spirit of a wild beast.  Australian cattle dog Sophie Tucker recently went from house pet to hunter after she fell overboard off the coast of Australia, then swam five miles to a remote island. She managed to survive there for four months by hunting down wild goats.

 

The dog spent twelve gruelling weeks in the harsh Australian outback on a remote island, and had to rely on her instincts in order to survive.

“She surprised us all,” said Sophie’s owner Jan Griffith as she spoke to the National Australian Associated Press News Agency. “She was a house dog and look what’s she done, she’s swum over five nautical miles, she’s managed to live off the land all on her own.”

 

Sophie’s adventure began as the Griffiths took her on a sailing trip last November, but the sea became choppy and the dog fell into the water. The Griffiths searched for her for over an hour, but to no avail. Little did they know that Sophie had doggy-paddled over to the island of St. Bees, in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The island is mainly uninhabited by humans, but is known for the koala bears who live there.

 

Island rangers said they spotted a thin and mangy looking dog on the island, although it never occurred to them that it was anything but a stray.  The next time they saw her a few months later, she looked a lot healthier.  When they started to find baby goat carcasses on the island, they knew the reason behind the dog's weight gain.

 

The rangers finally managed to trap the dog four months later and when the Griffiths heard the news that a wild dog had been found on the island they went to meet the boat bringing the dog back to the mainland. And of course it was Sophie.

The dog went through a fundamental personality change in order to survive and turned wild and vicious, Jan said.  “She’d been ferocious in the trap, but we called her and she started whimpering and crying, and so did everybody.”

 

Australian veterinarian Vicki Lomax said cattle dogs like Sophie are probably the most suited type of dog to survive this type of ordeal, as they have some innate information in their genes about basic survival skills.  However she also noted that five nautical miles is a long way to swim for any type of dog, and Sophie was lucky that she wasn’t attacked by a shark.

 

While Sophie had to turn into a beast to survive in the wild, remarkably, the Griffiths have said that she has once again become a friendly house pet.

Hmm,  I don't imagine my fluffy, spoiled West Highland Terrier would survive quite so well in the wild!