Camjet owner Aaron Crossan at the company’s Dominion Ave base.
Man’s best friend has been reunited with, well, his best friend.
Some quick thinking from those aboard the passing Camjet jet boat tour saved a dog from drowning in the Waikato River after it fell into the water in an area surrounded by steep cliffs.
Camjet owner Aaron Crossan had no idea how long the dog had been in the river two of his customers from Holland saw him.
“The little fella was happy to see us.”
After being given a ride a few kilometres back down the river to Camjet’s Dominion Ave base below Fergusson Bridge, the dog was handed over to Waipā District Council’s dog control team, who looked after him before he was reunited with his owner.
The rescued dog being given his life-saving ride back to Cambridge after he was pulled from the Waikato River. Photo: Supplied
His owner was visiting from out of town and was working on a farm upstream from where the dog was seen paddling in the water.
Since being shared on Camjet’s Facebook page, the story with a heart-warmingly happy ending has received 31,000 views, nearly 300 likes, been shared on nearly 120 people’s pages and had more than 90 comments.
Aaron has owned and operated Camjet since 2011 and takes up to 1000 thrill-seeking clients a year on his Waikato River tour, at speeds of up to 90km/h.
The route runs from the Dominion Ave boat ramp to the base of Karapiro Dam and back and along the way, Aaron stops at various points to tell customers about the history of the area.
That’s what he was doing when one of the clients spotted the dog.
“Because of where he’d fallen in – near the southern end of Cambridge Golf Club – the dog was trying to climb back up the banks but then just kept falling back in.”
Above the river, the owner was looking for him too, but to no avail.
He said the customers on board the boat were delighted to bring the dog ashore – and even more happy when Aaron told them of the reunion with his delighted owner.
It’s not the only surprising incident he’s come across – he has also rescued two cows from the river.
**This story was penned prior to the country moving to Covid-19 alert level 4**
