After 529 days of surviving in the wilderness of Kangaroo Island, Australia, Valerie the dachshund was found and rescued on April 25 to be reunited with her owners.

In November of 2023, young couple Josh Fishlock and Georgia Gardner took a camping trip to Kangaroo Island. Shortly into their trip, their dog escaped from their encampment and was left to fend for herself. Kangaroo Island spans more than 4,000 square kilometers of farms, nature reserves, and craggy cliffs. It also contains a variety of wildlife: Kangaroos, koalas, penguins, and possums, to name a few. Despite these factors, Valerie was able to survive on the island for over a year while remaining virtually undetected.

Often underestimated due to their small size, Dachshunds are naturally aggressive creatures. According to the American Kennel Club, “they can be brave to the point of rashness, and a bit stubborn.” It’s these protective instincts that allowed Valerie to survive on the island, but they made her rescue operation by Kangala Wildlife Rescue particularly difficult.

Around March, Valerie began to appear on surveillance camera footage and was spotted by island locals. She appeared well and healthy after a year of surviving on the island, but at any sign of human contact, Valerie was quick to flee. The Kangala Wildlife Rescue team launched an operation to secure the dachshund, but it proved to be a difficult one.

“Valerie seems impossible to trap,” they wrote in an April social media post.

Before long, the operation had ballooned in size and involved at least 1000 volunteer hours and 5000 kilometers in driven distance. Cameras, traps, and lures were deployed in hopes of capturing Valerie, and a piece of one of Georgia’s t-shirts was used to attract Valerie by scent. On April 25, after about a month of planning, the Kangala Wildlife Rescue team were able to safely secure the runaway dachshund. Jared Karran, director of Kangala Wildlife Rescue, detailed the successful capture on social media.

“She was rummaging around, finding little food stashes all over the place. Then she went right to the back corner, which is where we wanted her,” he recounted. “I pressed the button and thankfully it all worked perfectly. The remote dropped the door and that was all secured.”

Since then, the Kangala Wildlife Rescue team has been taking care of Valerie before her eventual reunion with owners Josh and Georgia.

“Valerie is doing really well and settling back into home life better than we could have ever imagined,” they announced on social media. “We are looking forward to seeing Josh and Georgia very soon when they come to pick up their little girl.”