Category: Pets

Meet Amber, a five-year-old retriever who’s had a ruff start to life, having resided in a Qatari shelter after being picked up as a street puppy. But earlier this year Amber moved to the UK through KS Angels Rescue, a small charity run by husband and wife Sam Collins and Kelly Parker, “trying to make a difference one dog at a time.” Amber was quickly placed in a loving foster home… where she spent one night before bolting on April 25, despite the 8-foot-high fence. What followed was 63 sightings by anxious humans of Amber in the wild as they tried to safely corral her back. The floof trekked across a national park until she hit the coast, then swam a mile to an island. After four days of island living, Amber began a swim back to shore, when the crew of a ferry saw her struggling and pulled her aboard. All in all, her journey covered 100 miles over 36 days. What an adventure!

She covered a lot of terrain: Amber walked in a south-westerly direction across the forest to the coast and ended up on Sandbanks in Poole, where she then doggy-paddled for a mile across Poole Harbour to reach Brownsea Island. A resident on the sparsely populated island put out food every night after spotting the stray. After four days she attempted to swim back to the mainland and was seen by the crew of a passing ferry who thought she was a seal. Crew mate Ethan Grant said: “I then realised it was a dog and thought ‘what’s that doing out there?’ You could see she was struggling so we thought we need to get her out otherwise she wouldn’t have made it.”

Amber’s ‘wild mindset’ made the recovery a challenge: Parker said the dog had entered a “wild mindset” until Saturday’s rescue. “We had a lot of well-meaning people and they really did try to help,” she said. “Unfortunately with a dog that is scared and has entered that wild mindset, with any people, she would have run.” Every time the wanderer was spotted, she had covered another five or six miles (8km/9.6km), said Parker. “It’s been frustrating, we’ve felt like we were always behind her. It’s definitely been an experience I would rather not have again — but a happy ending.”

Needing more time to bond: Parker said she hoped adventurous Amber would have a “calmer, more stable spirit” in future. Collins said Amber had not had enough time to form bonds, and had bolted every time someone tried to help. “She was absolutely all over the place, she kept returning to where she went missing from and was moving in bigger and bigger circles,” he said.

She did one mile of swimming! “But then we had no sightings for a week before I got a call that she was on a boat. We know she entered the water at Sandbanks as we were sent a photo of her there. It is about a mile of swimming, which is just incredible. “The boat crew spotted her struggling with the tide, she wasn’t going to make the swim back so they turned the boat around. She hooked her paws on to the ladder and one of the lads jumped into the water and helped her out.”

[From The Guardian]

Ferrymen for the win! Though I hope Amber gave them at least a little sass for mistaking her for a seal, lol. As for Amber’s wandering tail, I can’t completely blame her; poor girl winds up in a new, cold country without any idea what’s going on! The good news is, after her little excursion, Amber was cleared for good health by a vet, save for being a tad underweight. So before she gets placed in a new home, she’s on a strict diet of being given more meals (hey, that’d be the way to keep me homeward bound as well). And further good news: that resident of Brownsea Island who put food out for Amber has reached out to KS Angels about adopting the intrepid explorer. Meanwhile, for those keeping count at home, Amber marks the third runaway hound we’ve covered this year, joining an international crew of Scrim, the terrier of New Orleans (on the lam 10 months over two escapes), and miniature dachshund Valerie, who ran amok for a whopping 529 days on Australia’s Kangaroo Island. At what point do we start taking the wave of canines fleeing as a damning commentary on humanity?

Valerie the Miniature Dachshund hails from a land Down Under, where her doting Aussie parents took her along on a trip to Kangaroo Island in November 2023. Her persons set up a playpen area for Valerie while they tried their hands at fishing, but Valerie escaped and was nowhere to be found when they returned. After an extended search, the worst was presumed for Valerie’s chance of survival; she was but a wee little thing in a harsh climate teeming with venomous snakes. Oh, and did I mention that the Aboriginal name for Kangaroo Island is Karta Pintingga, which translates to “island of the dead”? So yeah, it was looking like a tragedy, until one month ago — after 16 months gone — Valerie was spotted again, still alive and wearing her pink collar. Then the best news of all came over the weekend: Valerie was recovered by a local wildlife rescue! After 529 days! The local group, Kangala Wildlife Rescue, is now sharing the careful, thoughtful efforts they took to ensure a safe and lasting recovery.

The escape: Kangala Wildlife Rescue said it had been working “around the clock” to find the dog, Valerie, on Kangaroo Island, off the coast of Australia. She was last seen by her owners on a camping trip in November 2023. Georgia Gardner and her boyfriend, Joshua Fishlock, had momentarily left Valerie in a playpen at their campsite while the couple went fishing. When they returned, she was gone.

The rescue: “After weeks of tireless efforts […] Valerie has been safely rescued and is fit and well,” Kangala said in a social media post. The charity said volunteers spent more than 1,000 hours searching for Valerie, covering more than 5,000km (3,109 miles). The rescue effort included surveillance cameras and a trap cage with a remote door system filled with food, Ms Gardner’s clothes and some of Valerie’s toys from home. Lisa Karran, a director of Kangala, said she wore the remnants of Ms Gardner’s clothes as she approached Valerie after the dog had been trapped, and sat with her until the dog was “completely calm”.

Why don’t you come on over, Valerie? In the initial days after Valerie went missing, other campers spotted her underneath a parked car which startled the dog and sent her fleeing into bushland, the Washington Post reported. Months later, island locals reported seeing a pink collar that matched Valerie’s, much to the surprise of Jared Karran, another Kangala director. “Of all dogs, that would be the last one I would say would survive out there, but they do have a good sense of smell,” Mr Karran said.

Rescuers Down Under: In a 15-minute video on social media, Mr and Ms Karran explained how the “rollercoaster” rescue had transpired. Ms Karran said they had to wait until Valerie was in the right part of the trap and calm enough to ensure she would not attempt another escape. “She went right into the back corner, which is where we wanted her. I pressed the button and thankfully it all worked perfectly,” Mr Karran said. “I know people were a little bit frustrated, like ‘why is it taking so long?’ But these are the things that we were doing in the background,” he said.

A relieved mama: Ms Gardner said on social media after Valerie’s long-awaited rescue: “For anyone who’s ever lost a pet, your feelings are valid and never give up hope.”

[From BBC News]

I watched Kangala Wildlife Rescue’s full video about how they approached the recovery, and walked away so impressed. They knew they couldn’t shut the door on the trap the first time she walked in, no matter how tempting it was, recognizing that doing so would spook a floof who’d been operating in survival mode for over a year. So they let Valerie walk in a few times to get comfortable, before somehow miraculously gauging the perfect moment to make the capture permanent. And luring Valerie to the area with her old toys — that her parents had kept, SOB! — and her mama’s clothing was brilliant. The family hasn’t been reunited yet, but will be soon as Valerie transitions out of lost/missing dog syndrome and is ready to go home. With an “escape proof” harness furnished by 2RoyalHounds Australia, according to KWR.

I didn’t think I’d encounter a rescue/recapture story more harrowing than Scrim the Terrier, the scruffy New Orleans dog who spent a total of 10 months on the lam from back-to-back stints of running away. But Valerie’s tail is epic! What were you thinking, Miss Val?! Valerie and Scrim… tramps like them, baby, they were born to run. (But please, don’t!)