After being on the lam for 529 days, Valerie the dog finally rescued – National

After 529 days on the lam, Valerie the miniature dachshund has finally been rescued.

Valerie, a tiny wiener dog with a pink collar, first went missing in November 2023 after she escaped from her pen on a beach on Kangaroo Island in South Australia and ran off into the bush in the surrounding Stokes Bay.

Her owners, with the help of locals and staff at Kangala Wildlife Rescue, spent the next five days searching for their furry friend before giving up and going home to New South Wales.

And while lost dogs often capture hearts, Valerie captured international attention as the world watched and waited, following along closely after several sightings were reported in recent months.

“Valerie has been safely rescued and is fit and well,” Kangala Wildlife Rescue announced on its Facebook group on Friday night, sharing that a well-worn T-shirt that once belonged to Valerie’s owner was key to her rescue.

“We were able to rip little strips off of it, and we started the process of just adding more and more bits towards the trap site as we went along,” Lisa Karran, one of Kangala’s directors, said in a video shared on the social media platform, explaining that the final rescue came when Valerie’s curiosity got the better of her and she became interested in the cage, which was outfitted with toys, a bed, hidden food and more clothing from her owners.

Eventually, Karran explained, the tiny dog began entering the cage and, at one point, while she sniffed around for the hidden food, they were able to remotely trigger the cage’s door closed.

Knowing the dog would likely be nervous and shy after her time running free, Karran said she put on the now “tatty” shirt and began to approach the dog, making a slow introduction.

“She came up, would sniff us and we’d just go by her cues until she was completely calm and snuggled up in our laps. It was amazing,” Karran said.

Late last month, Valerie made global headlines when she was spotted on surveillance cameras by Kangala Wildlife Rescue still donning her pink collar and alive, more than 500 days after she disappeared.

“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,” the animal rescue agency said in a Facebook post on March 21.

On March 27, a Kangala Rescue staff member reported a sighting, saying it enabled the team to narrow down the search area, adding that they could now feed Valerie and have installed cameras to track her movements.

“She’s looking really healthy,” the staff member confirmed in a separate Facebook video.

Since her rescue, Valerie’s care team has been working to build up the dog’s trust and strength.

“Of course, we had her favourites,” Karran said of the meals first brought to Valerie. “Roast chicken and her favourite dog food as well — they were the first things to help her recognize that we were safe and that we were not a threat.”

She’s also wearing a special “escape-proof” harness to ensure she doesn’t manage to run away again.

Valerie will soon be reunited with her “over the moon” owners, the team at Kangala said, but first there will be a short period of decompression and relaxation for the small dog.

“We want to return her to her beautiful owners the best way possible, and not cause her any more trauma or stress. Because undoubtedly out there in 16 months she would have gone through a lot.”

— With files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman

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