Dog was missing for 3 months – then surfers find him alone, shivering and starving in a cave
This year has been tough on all of us. But one little dog has quite a story to tell about her last three months.
Stella has been all alone, stuck in a cave, on a remote location on the western coast of Vancouver Island since May 2nd. That’s 3 months of fending for herself.
In early August, Matty Johnson and Zach Regan took a surfing and fishing trip in the area, near the Juan de Fuca trail.
But as they saw a storm rolling in, the pair began to row their aluminum boat to shore to prepare for the trip back to their homes in Sooke.
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But while they were still out on the water, they spotted something odd on the shore near Magdalena Point.
“Just glancing in the caves as we were going by, I saw tan legs walk out, just a glimpse, and I thought, ‘Oh that looks like an animal,’” said Regan. “It was very clear that it was a dog … and we immediately decided it was in major distress,” said Regan. “It was evident that she couldn’t escape, she was stuck in this cave and little beach area.”
The men decided to stage a rescue mission since its owners were nowhere to be found.
“We were trying to beat an upcoming storm, but we made the decision to save the dog,” Matty Johnson told Good News Network.
The rescue involved a “wetsuit, a surfboard, a lasso, almost being bitten in the face, a reef, big waves, and awesome teamwork.”
“[Matty] one-arm paddled out, I came in with the boat and I grabbed her before she sank to the bottom because she was so weak,” said Regan.
Yikes!
But the managed to get the pup safely on the boat and brought it back to Sooke with them.
They bundled her in a life jacket and nestled her in a surf bag to keep her warm, all the while getting photos and videos that would end up on the news.
When footage of their dramatic rescue aired, someone recognized poor Stella.
Before that, Regan had taken her home and named her Shaggy Maggy, after Magdalena Point.
He also contacted Reuniting Owners with Animals Missing (ROAM) to see if they could help find her owner.
“She’s eating, drinking water, sleeping and I gave her a wash because she was super stinky,” said Regan.
Luckily, Leslie Steves, the founder of ROAM got a call pretty quickly after the news hit the airwaves on Sunday. It was someone claiming to be the dog’s owner – a couple who had become separated from Stella while hiking on the Juan de Fuca trail three months earlier while on their honeymoon.
They thought there was no way she could have survived and mourned her loss – and they couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw her on the news. The newlyweds had searched for their dog for 5 days before they were forced to give up.
“Believe it or not they were on their honeymoon on May 2 on a hike with their dogs and their dog, Stella, that we found, vanished,” said Regan.“So for three months she was there in that area doing whatever to survive,” he said. “I think it’s miraculous. It’s a god***n miracle, it’s one of the best things ever.”
Stella and her family were blissfully reunited and Regan said she “lit right up” upon seeing her owners.
“It was just, like, an instant reunion, and they were lying there rolling in the grass.”
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Source: CTV News, Good News Network, CTV (1), CTV (2), Vancouver Is Awesome