In the US state of Alaska, a dog went missing, walked around 240 kilometers over sea ice and then – apart from two bite wounds – made it back to his family safely a month later. One-year-old Australian Shepherd Nanuq ran away on Saint Lawrence Island in the town of Savoonga in March along with another family dog named Starlight, the Anchorage Daily News reported yesterday. While Starlight reappeared two and a half weeks later, Nanuq remained missing.
Another week later, however, the family received word that there was a dog who looked like Nanuq in the small town of Wales, 150 miles away and separated by the frozen Bering Sea. Corresponding photos were published on social networks. And then it turned out that it was actually her dog. “I thought: That’s impossible. That’s our dog. What’s he doing in Wales?” said owner Mandy Iworrigan.
A mystery that will probably never be solved
She doesn’t know how her dog got there across the sea ice. “I have no idea why he ended up in Wales. Maybe the ice shifted while he was hunting,” Iworrigan said. “I’m pretty sure he ate seal scraps or caught a seal. Probably birds too. He eats our native food. He’s smart.” A young man then took care of Nanuq before the animal was brought back by plane.
Nanuq is in good health apart from a swollen leg with two large bite marks, Iworrigan told the newspaper. “Wolverine, seal or small polar bear, we don’t know, but it’s a really big bite.” Then, looking at Starlight and Nanuq, she said: “If dogs could talk, they would have a great story to tell.”
