Valerie, a tiny dachshund missing for a year and a half—essentially half her lifetime—on an island in Australia, has been found and brought back to her family, according to reports from her rescuers on Wednesday.
Georgia Gardner, Valerie’s owner, mentioned that the dog came to her without any hesitation when they were brought together by Kangala Wildlife Rescue on Kangaroo Island, located off the coast of South Australia, on Tuesday after being separated since November 2023.
“She ran straight up to me — I just burst into tears,” Gardner said in a statement released on Wednesday.
“She was wagging her tail, making her little happy sounds, and wiggling around with joy. I held her and cried and cried,” Gardner added.
Nearly three years old now, Valerie was captured on April 25 in surprisingly good health after spending 529 days surviving in the wild. She had been 4 kilograms (9 pounds) when she went missing and has now increased to 6.8 kilograms (15 pounds).
There is speculation that she survived on roadkill and animal droppings.
Gardner and her partner, Josh Fishlock, had been holidaying on the island and were away from their campsite fishing when their pet escaped from a pen. The couple searched but eventually had to return to the mainland without her.
Volunteers from Kangala Wildlife Rescue, a not-for-profit service, spotted the distinctive addition to the Australian wilderness in March.
She was captured after volunteers spent an estimated 1,000 hours searching while covering 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) of the island.
Having seen video camera images of the dog sniffing a trap last month, Kangala Wildlife Rescue director Jared Karran said he was surprised by how small she was in reality.
“If it was a miracle that she’s survived — seeing her size — it’s just unbelievable that she was able to survive and thrive out there,” Karran said.
Gardner and Fishlock will drive Valerie back to their home in Albury, New South Wales.
Garner said she had been working with a dog behaviorist to help Valerie transition to home life. Valerie will be kept on a raw food diet, “considering her incredible condition when she was found,” Gardner said.
In Albury, Valerie will be reunited with rescue cat Lucy and cattle dog Mason. She will also be introduced to her owners’ new dachshund, Dorothy.
