A missing dog’s long trip has finally come to an end when he returned to the waiting arms of his family.
Nanuq lives with his family in Gambell, Alaska, but during a family trip to Savoogna, the 1-year-old Australian shepherd disappeared with another family dog named Starlight last month, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Starlight eventually returned, after being found about 37 miles from home, but Nanuq didn’t, the newspaper reported.
Mandy Iworrigan never lost hope that Nanuq would come home, KTUU reported.
Recently, people about 150 miles away from where Nanuq was last seen, photos starting to pop up online that looked like the missing dog on ice near Wales.
The town was across the Bering Sea from where he was last with his family.
Mandy Iworrigan had deactivated her Facebook account, but she decided to turn it back on to see if it was Nanuq. To her surprise it was.
“I have no idea why he ended up in Wales. Maybe the ice shifted while he was hunting,” Iworrigan said, according to The Associated Press. “I’m pretty sure he ate leftovers of seal or caught a seal. Probably birds, too. He eats our Native foods. He’s smart.”
But Nanuq didn’t have to walk all the way home. Iworrigan used her airline points to fly him back home to Gambell on a regional air carrier that was originally chartered to fly athletes for a sports tournament.
When the plane landed in Savoonga, Iworrigan was recording on her phone to capture the reunion of Nanuq and her daughter Brooklyn.
Nanuq was OK except for his one leg which was swollen and had a large bite mark possibly from a wolverine, seal or small polar bear, more commonly known in the area as a nanuq, just like the dog.