Elleda Wilson: Eight-legged predicament

Elleda Wilson, The Daily Astorian, Ore.
·1 min read

Mar. 30—A giant Pacific octopus ended up in quite a predicament, stranded on a state park beach near Mount Vernon, Washington, KGW.com reported. "It can't survive out of water for more than several minutes, it collapses their gills," Annie England, of the Padilla Bay Reserve, said. She was part of the team who was called to save the cephalopod.

Luckily, there was a little girl visiting the beach with her family who knew what to do before help arrived.

"She was taking water with her little sand bucket, and she was filling it up and she was pouring it on top of the octopus," England said, keeping it alive.

With more water, a plastic bin and a little coaxing by rescuers, a post by the Padilla Bay Reserve Facebook page says, "it slowly crept out and returned to the ocean." (Screenshot from video by Mira Lutz)