Remember Valerie, the 8-lb. Dachshund, who went missing on Kangaroo Island in Australia while vacationing with her owners in November 2023?
The Kangala Wildlife Rescue has finally captured her.
After Valerie initially went missing, her owners and helpful locals searched for the pet for days, but Gardner and Fishlock eventually had to return home.
But when a webcam snagged an image of Valerie with her distinctive pink collar, the Kangala Wildlife Rescue volunteers stepped in to help. They finally lured her into a trap filled with treats and her toys from home.
“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,” Kangala wrote in a March social media post about the pooch’s perdicament. “Based on firsthand accounts and video evidence, 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.”
But how did a little doxie, nicknamed ‘Princess’, survive in the wilderness for so long?
Local wildlife experts believe she has lived on a diet of roadkill and dam water from local farms, while hiding from predators — and humans — in dense brush.
Valerie would run from humans and cars, which made this rescue so difficult.
Welcome home, ‘Princess!’