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| Old Salt, Young Spaniel |
At only eight months old, Snickers the cocker spaniel has already spent three months adrift on a 48-foot boat and survived four months on a Pacific atoll. His owners were rescued from the boat by a cargo vessel that didn't allow animals on board, leaving Snickers on the tiny atoll.
Rescued by cruise ship workers, the Humane Society and an airline, Snickers is back on the mainland. "It's an amazing story of a lot of people working together to save this puppy," Evans Hoyt, captain of the Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of Aloha, told the L.A. Times. "He's a very, very lucky dog."
Snickers and a macaw, Gulliver, were abandoned by their original owners on Fanning Island, a populated atoll 1,000 miles south of Hawaii and part of the 33 atolls that form the nation of Kiribati, after spending three months drifting at sea after the catamaran he was on began experiencing mast problems. The catamaran hit a reef and the owners swam the 200 meters to shore holding Snickers and Gulliver.
His owners owners were able to catch a supply ship and make their way back home to California, but the ship wouldn't allow Snickers to join them," Gina Baurile, from the Hawaiian Humane Society, told the L.A. Times.
When Jack Joslin, a Las Vegas pet owner, read of Snickers' plight, he quickly called the Hawaiian Humane Society to inquire as to how to rescue the puppy. "I was willing to spend whatever it took, but because so many people got involved willingly, it turned out not to cost me much at all," Joslin told the L.A. Times.
"I love animals," Joslin told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I had two dogs up until the middle of March. Then I had to have my border collie euthanized. The day they called saying the ashes were back was when I read the story [about Snickers]. It occurred to me that I could do something."
Norwegian Cruise Line offered to give Snickers a lift and Hawaiian Airlines volunteered to fly him to Joslin. Gulliver had to stay on the island because of paperwork.
Getting Snickers cleared for travel involved the Hawaiian Humane Society, state agencies and the Department of Homeland Security. After a trim and flea treatment, Snickers moved into his life of luxury for a week on Pride of Aloha. Snickers was "very unsure of himself and a little bit suspicious of people, and it was amazing how just in the course of the first 24 hours and day by day he turned right around," Hoyt said. Snicker grew to accept the attention lavished on him.
"There were some people who were very sad to see him go. He's a little heart-stealer, that one," Hoyt added. But Snickers had to continue his journey to his new home with Joslin.
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