How a dwarfeck in 529 days of princess turned into a fierce hunter

Between the kangaroos, koalas, voskoeses, ants, platypus and a bunch of toxic snakes, a four -kilo short -haired dwarf teckel also lived for almost 17 months. Valerie escaped in November 2023 during a camping holiday on the Australian Kangaroo Island, and survived for 529 days in the wilderness. Last weekend the ‘favorite fugitive of Australia’ was captured alive. She still had her pink glitter -neck band.

« A real princess. » For example, her owners, Georgia Gardner and Josh Fishlock, described her just after her disappearance. She did sleep with her owners in bed. During car rides she was placed in her own car seat. And in the winter months, Gardner attracted her sweaters to protect her from the winter cold, while in her hometown of Sydney it is not getting much colder than 8 degrees above zero.

So it must have been switching, from a safe environment to a 4,405 square kilometer island full of dangerous animals, more than 1,500 kilometers from home. Karta Pintingga called Aborginals the island on the south coast of Australia: the island of the dead.

Crying back

It is not surprising that Gardner and Fishlock looked back almost a year and a half ago at the island where they knew that their dachshund had to be somewhere. But although it was thought that Valerie was put to death on the island of the dead, she was spotted once in a while by the locals, who recognized her by her pink collar.

Typical dachshund, to keep it out for so long in such an inhospitable place. The dog species is described as a particularly stubborn, sometimes manipulative comedian with a great hunting instinct. « Even the most spoiled dachshund becomes a passionate hunter in the forest, » says the character description on the Website dachshund boss.

Because although dachshunds (also called dashond or dachshund) with their short legs do not have the construction to run fast, jump far or swim for a long time, they are according to the American Kennel Club « Tireless dogs that are for everything ». They have been bred to « hunt for dangerous prey independently » and are brave « to the point of brash. » The New York Times Valerie mentioned in March of this year, when she was still looking for fanatically, a ‘Rogue Sausage Dog« A villain sausage dog, says Google Translate.

Survive without an owner

Seen in this way it is not surprising that Valerie survived without her owners. Nevertheless, her rescuers in relative need, volunteers of animal welfare organization Kangala Wildlife Center (which was never concerned with a dachshund), that she has been hunting herself. They think she kept it up by eating hit animals and drinking water from local dams.

They were finally able to lure her with toys, snacks and a t-shirt torn in pieces by Bazin Gardner. From ‘Lost Dog Syndrome’, something that is in many Runaway Dogs Prevents, Valerie does not seem to be bothered. On her owners it probably has a long -lasting impact, but there is no name for that syndrome. The owners have exchanged her pink collar for a pink harness – so that she will not escape again.

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