NEARING the end of summer, Zoe Starr’s recent experience at Birubi beach with her beloved dog is as relevant today as it would have been at the beginning of December.

Zoe Starr said, “It is only because I forgot my thongs that I was walking on the sand in bare feet, that’s when I realised just how hot the sand could get.”

“At first I told myself to stop being a sook and kept going.”

“But the pain was getting worse and when I checked my feet they had blistered,”  Zoe told News of the Area.

Picking up her four-year-old Border Collie, called Grub (he looked like a witchetty grub when he was born), Zoe headed for some cooler sand and called a friend to bring her some thongs so she could get back to her car.

It was during this time that Birubi lifeguards came by.

Grub jumped into their cart and was enjoying the attention they were giving him.

The lifeguards asked Zoe where she was headed, and after explaining her situation, they offered to drive her and Grub to her car.

Zoe, who had just recently had Grub shaved to help him deal with the heat, wants to share her experience to raise awareness of our beloved pets and their delicate paws.

“We need to think about them, not just on hot sand, but when out walking them along the road and the grass, especially for bindis,”  Zoe said.

“I would like to thank the lifeguards for their compassion, they could have left us, knowing help was on its way, but did us an enormous act of kindness. Thank you guys.”

 

By Mandy ELLIS