A Scottish university lecturer spent four hours rescuing an octopus that she found washed up on rocks at a harbour after the tide went out.
Zara Brodie spotted the stranded sea creature while out walking her dog Gunner in Bo’ness, Falkirk on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old’s border collie decided to go for a swim at the harbour when she spotted the large red octopus in the distance.
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Realising that the cephalopod was still alive, she took out her phone and found out that they can only survive for around 30 minutes without being in the water.
Zara initially started running back and forth to splash the octopus with water but then decided to rush to a nearby Tesco to buy a bucket.
She returned back to the spot to find the octopus hadn't moved but amazingly managed to coax it into getting inside the bucket using a glove and stick.
She then transported it on a nine mile road trip with her and Gunner to the shore near the Queensferry Crossing in Edinburgh where she released it into the Firth of Forth.
Zara, who works as a psychology lecturer at University of the West of Scotland, has been praised online for her rescue mission after posting about it on Facebook on Tuesday.
She said: “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 soul, 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 and gained hundreds of comments from impressed readers.
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 (WED), 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.”
