Dog walks 150 miles on sea ice in Alaska and comes back happy

In the US state of Alaska, a dog went missing, walked about 150 miles on sea ice and – apart from two bite marks – returned safely to his family a month later.

One-year-old Australian Shepherd Nanuq ran away in March on Saint Lawrence Island in the town of Savoonga along with another family dog ​​named Starlight, the Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday. While Starlight reappeared two and a half weeks later, Nanuq remained missing.

However, a week later, the family was told that there was a dog resembling 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, there’s no way. This is our dog. What’s he doing in Wales?” said owner Mandy Iworrigan.

She doesn’t know how her dog got there over 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 cared for Nanuq before the animal was returned by plane.

Aside from a swollen leg with two large bite marks, Nanuq is in good health, Iworrigan told the paper. “Glutton, seal or little polar bear, we don’t know, but it’s a really big bite.” She looked at Starlight and Nanuq and then said, “If dogs could talk, they’d have a great story to tell.” (sda/dpa)