Dog helps confused baby turtle

SURFSIDE, Fla., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A Florida woman said a baby sea turtle her dog found heading in the wrong direction wasn't the first member of the species her canine helped rescue.

Liza Greenberg, 49, of Surfside, said she was walking along the ocean at about 7:15 a.m. Thursday with her 7-year-old King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, Bandit, when the dog ran off and started "sniffing at something in the sand," The Miami Herald reported Friday.

Greenberg said Bandit stepped back to give her a view of his find, a baby sea turtle heading west, away from the ocean.

Greenberg said she contacted a beach ranger, who made an exception to the ban on dogs at Surfside beaches to allow Bandit to be present when the turtle was released into the water.

"It was life. It was beautiful," Greenberg said. "It was the wonderful part about living in South Florida."

Greenberg said the incident was not Bandit's first encounter with sea turtles. She said the dog once discovered an entire nest of babies and beach rangers cordoned off the area to give the turtles enough space to safely make it to the water.