A dog has been rescued after waiting two months on frozen sea ice waiting for his master to return to his side.
The heartbroken canine refused to budge day or night from the spot where he last saw his master's vessel vanish over the horizon at a remote Russian port.
Anglers fed the dog, believed to be partly a Black Russian Terrier, but they could not catch the animal to free him from his lonely vigil.
The anglers nicknamed him Hachiko, after a legendary Japanese pet that waited more than nine years for its owner who had died, reports the Daily Star.
He spent months waiting at Nagaev Bay in Magadan, a port on the Sea of Okhotsk.
Recently animal rights activists became concerned because the sea ice is now melting and there were fears he would drown.
To finally catch the pining dog they used a snowmobile from the local search and rescue service.
The animal was shot with a sedative and then loaded into a fishing net to be taken to local kennels.
He was given medical checks but despite two months on the ice was found to be in good condition, said Anastasia Pavlova, head of Zoo Spas, which took part in the rescue.
Now named Chernysh - meaning Blackie - he has been moved to the home of his new owners, an angler who helped feed him during his ice ordeal.
But he remains nervous, curling up on a work surface, wanting to get back to the sea.
"The dog was living near the edge of ice for about two months, refusing to move," said a spokesman for the Russian Far Eastern search and rescue team.
"The animal was evidently left behind by a sea vessel which sailed away from Magadan.
"The dog remained, and every day sat on the edge of the ice looking out to sea in the hope that its home - the ship - would return to the bay."
If the original owner comes back with his ship, the unnamed angler will give up Chernysh, say reports.
