A small dog lost on a remote Australian island for more than a year has been spotted alive but is yet to be found and returned to its owners.
Valerie, the miniature Dachshund, first went missing in November 2023 after she escaped from her pen on a beach on Kangaroo Island in South Australia and ran off into the bush in the surrounding Stokes Bay.
Valerie, the miniature Daschund before she went missing, sporting her pink collar.
Kangala Wildlife Rescue
Her owners, with the help of locals and staff at Kangala Wildlife Rescue, spent the next five days searching for their furry friend before giving up and going home to New South Wales.
“It was like finding a needle in a haystack,” Valerie’s owner Josh Fishlock told the TODAY show in Australia last week, adding that the couple had no choice but to put a pin in their search and return to their lives on the mainland.
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His partner, Georgia Gardner, told The Guardian that Valerie “was not a very outside, rough-and-tough dog. To think that she even went one night outside in the rain, oh my gosh. To think that she’s gone a year and a half is incredible.”
More than 500 days after she disappeared into the wilderness, Valerie has been spotted on surveillance cameras by Kangala Wildlife Rescue, still donning her pink collar and alive.
“No one thought a little Dachshund like Valerie would survive alone in the wild, but more than 12 months after she went missing, regular reports started coming in about a Dachshund with a pink collar being seen about 15 kilometres from Stokes Bay,” the animal rescue agency said in a Facebook post on March 21.
But, despite video evidence of her whereabouts and multiple sightings based on first-hand accounts, the elusive wiener dog is proving hard to pin down.
On March 27, a Kangala Rescue staff member reported a sighting, saying it has enabled the team to narrow down the search area, adding that they can now feed Valerie and have installed cameras to track her movements.
“She’s looking really healthy,” he confirmed in a separate video on Kangala’s Facebook page.
Volunteers and staff are now on a mission to capture Valerie and return her to her owners.
“We now know that Valerie is alive. She runs at the first sign of humans or vehicles, and despite the best efforts of dedicated Island locals, Valerie has been impossible to catch,” the original post continued.
“We are using surveillance and various trapping and luring methods in the area she was last seen to try and bring her home. This is a tiny dog in a huge area, and we will need help from the public to report any sightings and a lot of luck,” the post says.
According to the American Kennel Club, Dachshunds are not built for distance running, leaping, or strenuous swimming, but are otherwise “game for anything.”
It describes them as smart and vigilant, with a big-dog bark. Daschunds also make great watchdogs and independent hunters of dangerous prey.
“They can be brave to the point of rashness and a bit stubborn, but their endearing nature and unique look have won millions of hearts the world over,” The Kennel Club’s website says.
Meanwhile, Kangala Rescue says it will provide updates and photos as the unlikely rescue mission continues.
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