Post by Aussienot on Sept 28, 2004 23:12:39 GMT -5
Published Monday, September 27, 2004 1:06:07 PM Central Time
WILLOW, Alaska -- If Survivor could speak, what a tale the Alaskan Husky could tell.
After being stolen from Alaska by an Ashland area man in August, then spending some time at an animal shelter in Kimball, Wis., the dog was flown home 3,000 miles to its owner this week.
The dog's journey has been chronicled in both the Sheboygan Press and Anchorage Daily News. The newspapers reported the purloined pooch's ordeal began on Aug. 16 when it was stolen by a 71-year-old man from Mason, Wis. He had traveled to Alaska, looking for sled dogs for his nephew to race in the Iditarod, and visited the home of the dog's owner, Nancy Crowden.
Crowden suspected the man took the dog while she was away. Aided by a neighbor's surveillance video that showed a red pickup truck going into and out of the Crowden property, the Alaska State Patrol was notified. Police confirmed the man had taken the dog and returned home to Wisconsin, but said they could do little to make the man surrender Survivor.
Debbie Enockson of Plymouth, Wis., a member of the Wisconsin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, got involved and arranged for the dog to be recovered from Mason. It was then housed in Kimball by boy thingy and Nancy Koivisto, who operate a dog shelter for the Alliance of Wisconsin Animal Rehoming Efforts.
Nancy Koivisto, a dispatcher for the Ironwood Public Safety Department, said Friday morning the thin dog was very friendly and got along well with her husband. "It was so thin, it didn't look like a sled dog at all. Its fur was more thin, like a beagle," she said.
After the Koivistos cared for the dog over the Labor Day weekend, it was transported to Sheboygan, where the aptly named Survivor was housed at a Humane Society shelter until it could be returned to Alaska.
"It's really beautiful of these people, what they've done to get my dog back," said Crowden. "They don't know me and they didn't have to do it."
Crowden, who's on disability, couldn't afford to pay the $1,000 to fly the dog back to Alaska, so a southern Wisconsin ESCPA chapter picked up the tab.
The stories didn't indicate whether the Mason man would be charged in the incident, as any prosecution would have to take place in Alaska, where the dog was stolen. Enockson said it's the first time she's had to deal with a dognapping.
The celebrity pooch seems to have captured everybody's heart. "She's a very sweet dog," Enockson said.
WILLOW, Alaska -- If Survivor could speak, what a tale the Alaskan Husky could tell.
After being stolen from Alaska by an Ashland area man in August, then spending some time at an animal shelter in Kimball, Wis., the dog was flown home 3,000 miles to its owner this week.
The dog's journey has been chronicled in both the Sheboygan Press and Anchorage Daily News. The newspapers reported the purloined pooch's ordeal began on Aug. 16 when it was stolen by a 71-year-old man from Mason, Wis. He had traveled to Alaska, looking for sled dogs for his nephew to race in the Iditarod, and visited the home of the dog's owner, Nancy Crowden.
Crowden suspected the man took the dog while she was away. Aided by a neighbor's surveillance video that showed a red pickup truck going into and out of the Crowden property, the Alaska State Patrol was notified. Police confirmed the man had taken the dog and returned home to Wisconsin, but said they could do little to make the man surrender Survivor.
Debbie Enockson of Plymouth, Wis., a member of the Wisconsin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, got involved and arranged for the dog to be recovered from Mason. It was then housed in Kimball by boy thingy and Nancy Koivisto, who operate a dog shelter for the Alliance of Wisconsin Animal Rehoming Efforts.
Nancy Koivisto, a dispatcher for the Ironwood Public Safety Department, said Friday morning the thin dog was very friendly and got along well with her husband. "It was so thin, it didn't look like a sled dog at all. Its fur was more thin, like a beagle," she said.
After the Koivistos cared for the dog over the Labor Day weekend, it was transported to Sheboygan, where the aptly named Survivor was housed at a Humane Society shelter until it could be returned to Alaska.
"It's really beautiful of these people, what they've done to get my dog back," said Crowden. "They don't know me and they didn't have to do it."
Crowden, who's on disability, couldn't afford to pay the $1,000 to fly the dog back to Alaska, so a southern Wisconsin ESCPA chapter picked up the tab.
The stories didn't indicate whether the Mason man would be charged in the incident, as any prosecution would have to take place in Alaska, where the dog was stolen. Enockson said it's the first time she's had to deal with a dognapping.
The celebrity pooch seems to have captured everybody's heart. "She's a very sweet dog," Enockson said.