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Man Finds Dog Missing For Nearly Half A Day In The Middle Of Biscayne Bay

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A miracle rescue in Biscayne Bay after a pet missing for many hours turned up in the water, alive and OK.

"Kimba" is truly one lucky dog.

"The dog had been swimming around out in the bay since 7 o'clock last night," said Jimmy Lewis, the man who spotted the Rhodesian Ridgeback.

It's not exactly known how long Kimba was in the water for, but the dog was found almost half a day after his disappearance from Brickell for almost 12 hours.

Lewis was fishing for bait at daybreak, about a mile or so south of the Rickenbacker Causeway, when he spotted Kimba.

"As I was running down the bay I saw a tip of a tail," Lewis said. "All of a sudden he went into a spin and I knew the dog was desperate for help."

Lewis grabbed the dog out of the water and put the exhausted Rhodesian Ridgeback under a towel.

Eventually, Lewis and the dog returned to Bayside, but not before putting out an appeal on Facebook where it went viral locally.

"Every single person I sell bait to is doing a Facebook blast," Lewis said.

In short time, Lewis got a text from a lady that knew a dog was missing. She had seen a flyer and put two and two together which produced a dog-gone happy ending.

"Thanks to you guys on Facebook we found the owner… we put this together," Lewis said.

Lewis may have actually seen Kimba even earlier, but he assumed what he saw was an otter.

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