A SCOTS woman spent four hours rescuing an octopus that had been left marooned on rocks after the tide had receded.
Zara Brodie spotted the stranded sea creature while she was walking her dog Gunner in Bo’ness near the harbour yesterday.
The 34 year-old’s border collie decided to go for a swim at the harbour, while watching out for her dog standing on the rocks, she spotted a large red octopus.
Realising that the cephalopod was still alive, she googled how long it would stay alive on land, but after finding out it could only be out of the water for 30 minutes Zara knew she needed to act.
What first started with running back and forth to splash water on the animal, quickly turned into a full scale rescue mission.
Zara rushed to the supermarket to get a bucket to keep the Octopus alive.
After struggling to coax it into the bucket of sea water, she finally managed to get the animal in the water.
She and Gunner drove around nearby coastal towns to find an appropriate place to get him back in the sea.
After getting the sea creature to the shore underneath the Queensferry Crossing, Zara carefully released the octopus into the Firth of Forth.
It slowly swam away after a few seconds.
After the ordeal was over Zara took to Facebook last night to share what she and her dog had been up to, she wrote: “My little doggy walk around the harbour loop down in the town centre today turned into almost a four hour rescue mission.
“My pup insisted on climbing down the rocks for a little swim, and I spotted this beautiful octopus washed up on the rocks.
“He was still alive, but I found out from a quick Google search that they can only survive for up to 30 minutes out of water, and the tide was almost fully out at this point so wouldn’t be back in until very late tonight.
“Cue a run back to the car, trip into Tesco to buy a bucket, and a run back to the shore to coax him in.
“We then drove around all the nearby coastal towns to find a spot where the water was high regardless of tide times to release him safely.
“Finally, I released him right under the Queensferry Crossing.
“I never expected to see an octopus in Bo’ness, but there we are.
“If anyone else spots another little lost sole, please keep in mind that they can’t survive long out of water, unlike jellyfish, and try to do what you can to help them get back to safety.”
The post has been liked over 1,500 times, been commented on over 300 times and has been shared almost 150 times.
People loved the post and commended Zara for her efforts in the comments.
Evie Btyne said: “Love this wee story, you are such a star for rescuing it.
“I love the video.
“Something to tell your grandkids in years to come.”
Karen Clark said: “Amazing, and what a beautiful, kind, compassionate thing to do.
“We need more people like you in the world.”#
Samantha Glenister said: “Love this.
“You’ll remember this forever.
“As much as it’s real it’s also a great story with a happy ending.”
Elizabeth Pratt said: “That’s amazing and thank you for going to as much trouble to help the wee soul.
“Great too that you’re passing your knowledge on, I didn’t realise they would only survive for 30 mins.”
Speaking today, Zara said: “ I stayed with him for about 20 minutes trying to figure out what to do.
“I decided to try and locate a bucket so I could move him somewhere where the water level was high regardless of the tide.
“So I lightly tried to coax him using a stick onto a slate rock I found nearby, which was not easy, and was able to move him to a small rockpool so I knew he’d survive while I went in search of a bucket.
“So then I had to run the 20 minutes back to my car, jump in, drive to Tesco, buy a bucket, drive back, and run back to the spot where I found him.
“I was then able to slowly coax him into the bucket using a glove I’d brought from my car, filled it with sea water and then headed back.
“My dog Gunner was super confused by this point.
“I spotted an area just along from Port Edgar where I could climb down the rocks and get to higher water.
“So he was finally released right under the Queensferry Crossing at 6.45pm.
“It moved around slowly but didn’t speed off.
“Once it got about two feet away I couldn’t track it any more as the water was super murky so it was difficult to see where he went from there.”
