'What a girl!' Dog rescued off island after 100-mile trek

A dog who went missing for 36 days in southern England and covered about 100 miles before swimming to an island has returned home after being rescued by a passing ferry.

- Alexandra Topping

Amber, a five-year-old retriever cross, had been rescued as a street puppy in Qatar by a charity and moved to the UK but went missing after only one night with her foster family near Bramshaw in the New Forest.

She went missing on 25 April, and for the next 36 days went on an adventure across Hampshire and Dorset, even swimming to an island, before she was rescued.

There were 63 reported sightings of her in the New Forest national park, and food stations and cameras were set up to try to locate her.

Amber walked south-west across the forest to the coast and ended up on Sandbanks in Poole, where she then doggy-paddled for a mile across Poole Harbour to reach Brownsea Island.

A resident on the island put out food every night after spotting the stray.

After four days she attempted to swim back to the mainland and was seen by the crew of a passing ferry who thought she was a seal.