Miniature dachshund spotted alive 16 months after being lost in wilderness: ‘Impossible to catch'

Independent

27-03-2025

When a miniature dachshund went missing in November 2023 on a South Australian island, her distressed owner cried for days while desperately trying to track her down, assuming she had no chance of surviving on her own in the wild.
But 16 months after she disappeared, Valerie has been spotted alive on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, to the surprise of wildlife experts.
Valerie went missing while on holiday with her owners, Georgia Gardner and Josh Fishlock. Though they searched the island for a week with local help, she wasn't seen again recently.
'We spent probably five days of the rest of our trip looking for her, but without any luck unfortunately,' Mr Fishlock told Nine News' Today. After futile attempts to find Valeria, they left the island to return to their lives.
But he said that in the months following Valerie's disappearance, there have been reported sightings of her on the Kangaroo Island.
'She never left my side. She was not a very outside, rough-and-tough dog. To think that she even went one night outside in the rain, oh my gosh. To think that she's gone a year and a half is incredible,' Ms Gardner was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
The dog, whose precise age was not available, continues to evade capture despite efforts by volunteers and wildlife experts.
The Kangala Wildlife Rescue confirmed her survival through video evidence and set traps with cameras to try to catch her. On their Facebook page, the organisation wrote: 'Based on first-hand accounts and video evidence we now know that Valerie is alive. She runs at the first sign of humans or vehicles and despite the best efforts of dedicated Island locals, Valerie has been impossible to catch.'
Mr Fishlock told Nine News: ' We were initially a bit sceptical of all the sightings, then only probably three weeks ago, we received a photo from one of the locals and that sparked a lot of hope in us. It's given us nearly 100 per cent certainty that she's still alive.'
However, she reportedly becomes skittish when someone tries to approach her and quickly flees again.
Despite being a 'princess' and not suited for the wild, Valerie's remarkable resilience has surprised her rescuers.
Ms Gardner said: 'We thought, instead of her surviving out in the wild, maybe someone had kind of adopted her or she was hanging out with some other dogs and getting their food, because she was an absolute little princess.'
'I remember on the first day I was just covered in tears. We barely ate anything,' she told The Adelaide Advertiser. 'My whole world just crumbled. When we left the island without her, I cried for days.'
Kangala wrote on their Instagram: 'We are using surveillance and various trapping and luring methods in the area she was last seen to try and bring her home. This is a tiny dog in a huge area, and we will need help from the public to report any sightings and a lot of luck.'
Experts are amazed by the dog's survival, speculating that she may have eaten roadkill, dam water, or possibly received help from locals. Paul McGreevy of the University of Sydney 's veterinary school said that like all dogs, dachshunds were 'extremely resourceful'. He said: 'Dogs are the greatest opportunists in the animal kingdom: that's one of their core skills.'
On Kangala's Facebook page, one user wrote: 'Please put down the owner's unwashed clothing down at sighting locations. Ask people who see her to sit down and not make eye contact. Putting out food with liquid smoke trails with trail cameras will help but the clothes are essential. Her owners need to be there asap.
'They need to walk around but not call out to her as she won't be able to recognise them at first. Dachshunds tend to hide against surfaces to seek comfort.'