The Long Swim

  Every now and again some mundane incident can jog a memory of something pretty amazing.  A couple of days ago, Mark and I watched as a critter swam across from a small inlet to the pier.  Since the animal was far away from us, it was hard to identify judging by sight only.  It did not take long before I knew it was a nutria rat simply by the way it swam.  There was no up and down loping motion like that of an otter.  Still, it was not until the critter was near us that we could fully see its face.  Yep, a nutria rat was out for its morning swim.  

  As the "unidentified swimming critter" came toward us, a memory of a similar incident from years ago came flooding back into the brain.  I was on the pier early one morn when I saw what appeared to be something swimming across the Bay!  That was a far piece for any critter so I figured that it must be either an otter or a nutria rat.  Both of those could swim for miles but this animal did not swim like either.  It was struggling to keep its head above water.  At first, I could barely make out that this was indeed an animal.  After a good fifteen minutes of being in the water, the animal was finally getting near enough that I could see that it was neither an otter nor a nutria rat.  This was a little dog!  The pup had swam all the way across the Bay which included a shipping channel.  The poor animal had to be exhausted.

  Once the pup was near our pier, it tried to cling to the posts but the barnacles scraped its paws and the waves tossed the pup against the hard posts.  I grabbed the fish scoop net and made a mad dash to help the pup.  Once I was able to get  the little one to shore, I realized that this tiny thing was a poodle!  A little black poodle had swum all that way without rest!  Of course, the pup was scared, cold and starving.  I tried to help it but it cowered in the marsh. After a bit, the little one ate but then scampered off down the lane and I never saw it again.  

  It bothered me to know that somehow that pup wound up in the water and was not helped.  At the time, I had a strong suspicion that the pup's owner had decided to "eliminate" the pet by throwing it into the water.  The fact that the little poodle swam all the way across the Bay led me to believe that the poor animal was abused and terrified to start.  It broke my heart to know that the dog did not even feel that it could trust me...its rescuer.  

  The nutria rat, on the other hand, did not need rescuing.  These critters are expert swimmers and the adults have few predators except for the alligators.  It is not uncommon to see them far out from the shore.  The one that Mark and I watched, soon made its way into the marsh.  I have a feeling that this was some rogue male coming to visit the little mama that lives far back in the Bayou.  I guess we will be seeing some nutria pups in a few months.  Oh, geez....more of the critters!