Teenager dives into the sea to save lamb from drowning

A 19-year old dived into the sea to save the life of a lamb that was struggling in the water after being chased in by a dog.

Joseph Neill was walking with his girlfriend Ellie in Ogmore-by-Sea on Saturday morning when he saw something happening in the distance on the beach.

He rushed into action when he realised a small dog had run away from its owners and chased a flock of sheep in Ogmore Rivermouth car park. The dog chased down one lamb which separated from the group and ran into the sea.

The dog continued to hound the lamb and in a frenzy to get away the lamb swam further, reaching around eight meters from the beach. The dog was brought out of the water but the lamb struggled to get back to the beach while fighting against the current.

Mr Neill had a good understanding of agriculture and farming having studied it in college and so decided to step in.

Thinking fast, he took his shirt off, dived into the water and was able to rescue the lamb, bringing it back to shore and to safety.

Recalling the day's events, Mr Neill, who works for Asda, said: "Myself and my girlfriend went out for a nice little walk around the seafront and then we heard a dog first of all yapping. I didn't know what had happened. Then we saw it was chasing a lamb and that it had gone into the water.

"I had done a year of agriculture in college, I'm big into farming. By the time I got there the dog and the lamb were both eight metres into the water. The dog was able to be brought out but the lamb kept swimming."

"I knew it would exhaust itself if it carried on and it wouldn't end well, so I did what I thought anyone else would have done and took my jumper off and dived in to go and rescue it."

"I knew roughly how to swim to get the sheep back safely. I got it back to shore and made sure it had no cuts and that its airways were cleared. It started sneezing which was a good sign, but it couldn't stand up, it was physically exhausting. I stayed with it for 10 to 15 minutes until it was able to stand and then I went home and got changed."

Mr Neill explained he has been inundated with praise since performing the rescue, after a passerby who saw his actions posted a picture of him on Facebook to commend him.

"It's been overwhelming to be honest," he said. "I was out last night and one of the boys texted me and said 'Is this you?' It was a yearling lamb and it was in distress. I just did what I thought anyone else would have."

"I know the farmer who owns the lamb and he has thanked me for what I did."