Skipper saves meerkat that jumped into the sea

An escaped meerkat was rescued from the sea by a cargo ship skipper after it jumped overboard.

Boris, a three-year-old meerkat, was being taken from the Scilly Isles to the mainland, where it was due to be rehomed at the Axe Valley Zoo in Axminster, when it and a second meerkat – called Doris – escaped from their cage.

Doris was caught by the crew, but when Boris went 30ft over the side of the Gry Maritha cargo ship as it docked in Penzance, Cornwall, skipper Tom Sexton had to dive in and rescue it.

“It was great to have him back and I’m so grateful to the crewman,” said Stephen Griffin, Boris’s owner.