Safety concerns are being raised after Rupert, a 3-year-old mastiff mix, died Thursday after being swept into a storm drain at a California beach.
Madi McNaughton, 24, was at the Santa Ana river jetty, a popular although not specifically designated dog beach, near Newport Beach and Huntington Beach with Rupert and three other dogs, according to KNBC.
McNaughton threw a ball into the water. When Rupert went to retrieve it, a large wave swept the 150-pound dog toward a storm drain and to the other side, which is grated.
"I didn't even know (the storm drain) was there until I saw him getting pulled toward it," McNaughton told the Orange County Register.
McNaughton jumped in after Rupert, grabbing his collar with one hand, but the current was so strong that she had to let go.
"Water was rushing over my head. I couldn't breathe. My hand on the wall started to slip. I had to let go of his collar or I would have gone in with him," she told the Register. "He never came up. After a few minutes, I knew he couldn't get up. I was hysterical."
McNaughton, an assistant at a veterinary clinic, does not consider herself a neglectful dog owner.
"Dogs are my entire life," she told the Register. "The fact that there were children there minutes before, not nearly as big as him – it's scary."
McNaughton hopes to get the storm drain opening closed with a grate and to add signs in the area, according to CBSLA. She is also warning others of the danger.
"Just minutes before I got here with my dogs to throw their ball, there was a dad and his two kids playing in this exact water that got him swept into that water," McNaughton told CBSLA. "That could have been those kids. (Rupert) was way bigger than those kids were."
The jetty protects nearby houses from potential rising waters.
"We're looking into this. This is tragic news. And while we need to assess what happened, we don't want any additional safety incidents to occur. We want people and animals to be safe," Shannon Widor, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Department of Public Works, told KNBC.
A candlelight vigil in honor of Rupert is planned for 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
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