Stranded pooch saved from island

MAT-SU -- A female Akita dog is getting back to full strength this weekend after spending at least seven days marooned on a Knik River island.

Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation officer John Frey, Mat-Su Borough dive team deputy chief Ron Durheim and Alaska Airboats owner Leonard Haire of Wasilla rescued the animal Thursday after a citizen reported hearing its howls for help.

"It was about two days from dying," said Dennis Brodigan, deputy director of the Mat-Su Borough Department of Public Safety. "The dog was very malnourished."

Most of the Mat-Su dive team personnel and equipment was in Talkeetna taking care of flooding problems. Durheim said he decided to stay in the Valley to coordinate things, along with the team's second unit.

It turned out to be a good decision. Once word of the stranded Akita came, Durheim called Haire and asked if an airboat was available. Haire, who has helped the dive team on previous emergencies, soon met Durheim and Frey at the Knik River bridge.

They brought a baited trap to leave in case they couldn't find the dog right away. But it wasn't necessary because Durheim spotted the Akita through binoculars on a sandbar near an island. It was a mile and a quarter downstream from the bridge.

"We proceeded to the sandbar and shut the airboat off," said Durheim. "You could tell she was scared but really wanted off."

Frey got ahold of the dog and put her into the cage for the boat trip back to shore, just in case she was frightened enough to jump. It took only a few seconds for the Akita to wolf down all the salmon bait in the cage.

The dog has a collar but no tags. It is resting up at the animal shelter off 49th State Street, regaining some of the weight lost during the ordeal.

Jim Stocker of Palmer, a pilot, first noticed the animal on July 13 when he was in the area with a friend checking runway conditions.

"We didn't know what it was," he said. "It was sort of a howl and a whine. We were walking through the mud because we were so curious. I've been here 30 years, and I hunt and fish, but I never heard anything like it. I went home and got a spotting scope and saw it was a dog."

He called animal control and they advised him to call back if he saw or heard it again. Thursday he heard the Akita again from about a mile away. He said animal control was "incredibly responsive" when he called that afternoon.

Stocker believes the Akita could have been stranded as long as two or three weeks.

"I don't like to see anything suffer," he said. "It was a tired howl and a tired cry."

Frey called it "a real sweet dog," and said he's glad they got there in time.

"We got lucky and saved the rascal," he said.