Irish Water’s Water Bug Is a Water Spaniel
On the surface, the water bug looks like a normal water dog.
But for a water bug like this, its life in the water is far more difficult.
A water bug can be up to six feet long and has a body that can weigh more than a large cat.
So far, no one has captured a water dog in Ireland.
Water bugs are rare in Ireland, and their habitat is limited.
But the Irish Water Waterbug Foundation has an even more unusual story.
In the summer of 2017, the Irish water bug Foundation was trying to save a water spaniels life.
It found a small creek in County Cork.
There were two water spANIels, one male and one female.
The water spren was living in a tank in a nearby field.
They were a bit sick, but the charity decided to try to save them.
“They were both quite ill,” says Irish Water Foundation Director of Wildlife, John Walsh.
“We knew the male was having a heart attack, so we decided to bring the female in and help her with the heart attack.”
They didn’t need a heart surgeon.
They just needed a good old fashioned heart.
“It took them three weeks to recover,” says Walsh.
The charity brought the male back and took him to a vet.
The female was not so lucky.
The vet said the male had a problem with his heart, and he needed to have his heart replaced.
“That’s when we knew that this wasn’t an issue with one of the males,” Walsh says.
“So we decided that it would be best to help the female.
So we went in and put her into a cage and started to feed her.”
After a few weeks, the male started to make a great recovery.
But then the female was also showing signs of the heart problem.
“The male started having a cardiac problem and we knew this wasn´t a good thing,” Walsh explains.
“He couldn´t feel his heart.
So when we went into the cage, we were looking for an oxygen tank and found one that was in the cage.
And the female just fell into it.”
Irish Water wanted to make sure the female had oxygen.
So they put her in a box with a couple of other female water bugs.
She quickly recovered and was now doing very well.
“In the box she was able to breathe for about three weeks,” Walsh continues.
“She went to the vet and had her heart removed.
And we decided it would make a good home for her.”
When the charity was ready to take the female to an animal hospital, the local animal hospital refused to let the female stay.
So Walsh decided to send her to an Irish Water veterinarian who could help her.
The hospital’s vet was surprised to learn that there was a waterbug in the hospital, but she was determined to give it a home.
So the charity took her to a home in Dublin.
“At the time of her arrival, she was about 15 pounds, which was a lot of weight for a female water bug,” Walsh tells CBS News.
“But after two weeks, she had a body weight of over 50 pounds.”
The female kept thriving and was eventually adopted by a family in the area.
And Walsh was determined that the female would survive and be adopted.
“One of the things that we wanted to do was to make it as comfortable as possible for the female water dog to live with the male,” he says.
Irish Water was able do just that.
They gave her a new cage with a cage net and a water bottle.
They also gave her an oxygen cylinder.
“Her heart function went back to normal and she was getting the heart back,” Walsh concludes.
“And we were really excited to give her a chance to live.”
The Irish Water waterbug Foundation was one of several groups to adopt waterbugs in the U.S. In 2017, a group of conservation organizations took on waterbug conservation in the United States.
In addition to adopting water bugs from the U and S.A., the group also worked with Irish Water to train a local waterbug trainer.
“When we came into the U, the number of waterbugs we got to know was really low,” Walsh explained.
“Then, one day we found this waterbug and they were a lot more common.”
The waterbug’s name was Béarne, and it was the first time Walsh had met him.
“I think he was a bit shocked that he was being called by a waterdog name,” Walsh said.
The group also tried to educate the public about the waterbug.
They brought water bugs to public events.
And they sent water bugs out to schools.
Walsh says they were so proud of the effort.
“What we learned from the waterbugs is that they really enjoy being in the wild,” Walsh concluded.
“Waterbugs are very social creatures and they enjoy the company of other water animals.”
Irish waterbug adoption in the