Adrift Pooch is Plucked From Pacific Isle
Posted on: Sunday, 20 April 2008, 09:00 CDT
Snickers the Sea Dog is barely more than a pup, but he's already an old salt.
The 8-month-old pooch spent three months adrift in the Pacific with his owners and a parrot until their 48-foot sailboat ran aground in December on tiny Fanning Island, 1,000 miles south of Hawaii. Snickers and Gulliver had to be left behind as their owners hitched a ride on a cargo vessel.
Then in March, news came in a boating journal that the orphaned critters were to be destroyed on Fanning, one of 33 scattered coral atolls that make up the remote island nation of Kiribati.
As word spread, a bevy of people worked to rescue the cocker spaniel and the macaw, including a man who desperately wants to adopt them: retired Las Vegas resident Jack Joslin.
"I love animals," Joslin said Friday.
On April 9, Norwegian Cruise Line workers rescued Snickers from Fanning and dropped him off on Oahu island, Hawaii, where he will remain in quarantine until he is flown to Los Angeles.
Snickers' original owners, Jerry and Darla Merrow, had set out from California's Moss Landing but their catamaran developed mast problems, said Gina Baurile of the Hawaiian Humane Society.
The boat drifted to the tiny atoll, where it hit a reef and the couple swam 200 yards to shore with Snickers and Gulliver.
Baurile said the pets were left in the care of islanders.
Efforts to contact the Merrows on Friday were unsuccessful. Officials said the couple relinquished ownership of the pets.
Contacted by Joslin, the Hawaiian Humane Society took the lead on Snickers' rescue.
The organization worked with Norwegian Cruise Line, and a ship was sent out to Fanning Island to pick up the dog .
The dog landed in Honolulu on Wednesday, cleared customs and has been in quarantine since, awaiting transport to Los Angeles .
Getting the parrot off the island will be more difficult. But Joslin, who wants to adopt the animal, said he is trying to make those arrangements.
"Snickers is going to live with me, I hope, for a long time," Joslin said.
(c) 2008 Virginian - Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Virginian - Pilot
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