Dog Missing At Sea For Five Weeks Found Alive

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - An amazing story of survival. A dog who was missing at sea for five weeks, and presumed dead, has been found alive.

Navy officials found Luna, an 18-month old German Shepard, on an island 80 miles off the coast of California after she disappeared while on her owner's fishing boat.

Luna was with her owner on the fishing boat "Elisabeth H." on February 10th when she vanished about two miles off the coast of the San Clemente Island Naval Facility.

Her owner looked for Luna for two days without any luck, then reported her missing to the Navy and the Coast Guard who began their search.

"We flew twice for her and we did not find her. I think she was on the beach and with that color just blended in perfectly," said Melissa Booker, a Navy biologist who eventually found Luna.

Five weeks later the pup was spotted along the main road on the island.

"She's thin but not emaciated. When we got her, she wasn't even that dehydrated," said Booker. "She was probably eating dead seabirds, dead fish that she found along the shoreline."

Luna was flown to the Coronado Airbase hungry but healthy.

"I didn't think this was it when I signed up, when I became the CO, that this would happen, but this was definitely a good story" said base commander Stephen Barnett.

Luna is scheduled to be reunited with her owner when he returns from a trip on Thursday. Luna's owners aren't sure why she disappeared from the boat, they say should may have slipped or jumped off the boat to chase a seal.