New Jersey State Police Troopers Ryan Kohler and Vincent Ferdinandi were just starting their shift at 7 a.m. on Tuesday when they received an unexpected call: a golden retriever had been spotted swimming in Barnegat Bay, along the Jersey Shore and needed to be rescued.
Using a Zodiac boat, Ferdinandi and Kohler navigated out to the dog, swimming about 75 yards from the shore.
The officers gently guided the exhausted dog to land using a rope, pulling him onto a sidewalk behind a nearby house.
“It was exhausting,” Ferdinandi told PEOPLE, noting the dog’s clear signs of malnutrition and fatigue.
The three-year-old retriever, Chunk, had gone missing on June 6 while playing fetch with his owners, Mary and James Zangara.
Spooked, Chunk ran into the woods, and despite search efforts using social media, local police, bait traps, and surveillance cameras, he had not been found for over two weeks.
On Tuesday morning, two joggers spotted Chunk on the Mantoloking Bridge. However, when they tried to catch him, the frightened dog leaped into the water. By the time police arrived, Chunk had swum more than two kilometers.
When the officers finally reached the shore with Chunk, he appeared fearful and backed away from them, but they kept him safe until his family arrived. “Seeing their relief to have him back was incredible,” said Ferdinandi. “Chunk was just as happy to see his family.”
Kohler, who has been a trooper for 16 years and owns a rescue Lab/Shepherd mix, empathized with the Zangaras. “I completely understand how hard it is when a dog is missing for that long,” he said.
The New Jersey State Police shared the heartwarming rescue on their Facebook page, a post that quickly garnered over 6,000 shares.
“Troopers Kohler and Ferdinandi responded in a motorboat and found Chunk swimming near the Mantoloking Bridge. They safely brought him to shore,” the post read, adding, “Chunk had been missing for more than two weeks. Needless to say, he was happy to be reunited with his grateful owners.”
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