Posted on 03/02/2002 10:05:27 AM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
Nation: Dog stays with dead master 12 days in frozen wilderness
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (March 2, 2002 1:10 p.m. EST) - A dog belonging to the caretaker of a remote island lodge who died felling a tree stood by the dead man's side for 12 days in the wilderness until searchers arrived.
Bill Hitchcock, 45, died when part of a tree he was cutting down for firewood fell on him. He and his 4-year-old black Labrador, Buddy, had been the sole caretakers of the lodge for the winter.
Owners of the Sound Experience lodge on the Prince William Sound island notified the village public safety officer Sunday in nearby Chenega Bay that Hitchcock hadn't contacted them as expected. Officer John Lunetta and three volunteers took a boat Wednesday over to Knight Island and found the lodge deserted.
Pete Kimpkoff Jr., a volunteer searcher, said the party found Hitchcock's journal inside the lodge. The last notation, made Feb. 15, stated that he was going by boat to Little Bay for firewood.
"It was Bill's method of letting everybody know where he was in case somebody checked," Kimpkoff said.
The searchers took their boat less than a mile from Thumb Bay, where the lodge is located, along the coast to Little Bay. They saw Hitchcock's skiff on the beach.
"As we got closer, we seen some movement up in the woods there and found out it was his dog," Kimpkoff said. "I said, Take me to your master,' and I followed him up the hill. He had a path. It looked like he'd been coming back and forth for some time. It was well packed and everything. He took me right up to Bill's body."
Hitchcock was trapped under a piece of tree about 5 feet long and 1 foot in diameter. Kimpkoff said it appeared the tree he had cut with his chain saw had fallen into another tree, breaking off the 5-foot segment from the top that came crashing down, striking Hitchcock in the head and likely killing him instantly.
Kimpkoff isn't sure how Buddy survived the 12 days pacing back and forth from the body to the shore. The dog is now up for adoption.
Can you imagine Chico and Penny hangin' around for me though? *L*
God sure knew what He was doing when He created dogs!
George Bernard Shaw when told the same thing answered, " if there are no dogs in heaven, I would not want to go there."
Think about it. Heaven without animals. It really would not be the heaven I want.
Dogs are so great, so loyal, so loving...they ask for so little and give so much in return....I have had many dogs over the years, and the joy they have brought to me and our family, was overwhelming...
Here follows a sweet story...I have worked in nursing homes for many, many years...many of these seniors have to give up their beloved pets when they go into nursing homes...one gentlemen I took care of, so mourned having to give up his beloved dog, even tho he knew that the woman he gave the dog to, loved the dog and took care of the dog very well...as his time progressed along with us, he became very ill, and the docs had advised him that his liver was no longer functioning, and that he had only weeks, if even that, to live...
This man had but one wish to be fullfilled before he died...he wished to have a day with his dog again...so the nursing home called up the lady who had his dog, and asked if she would visit the home with his dog...she obliged...somehow or another one of the local newspapers got wind of this, and then a local TV station....and they also came to the nursing home to write and film this human interest story...
Now when the lady came in with the dog, you could tell the dog was happy with her, and that he was well loved...but when the dog saw his old owner, he just went berserk...barking, jumping up and down, and just overjoyed to see the old man...
Let me tell you, there was not a dry eye in the house...the newpaper reporter, the TV people, the nursing home workers, the other residents, and of course the old man himself, were all in tears...
The old man and his dog spent the day together, and it was indeed a wonderful day for them both....
Eventually it was time for the woman to leave with the dog...the old man pet his dog, kissed him, and cried because he knew it was the last time he would be with him...the old man died a week or two later...but he died happy, knowing that his dog loved him so much, and that his dog was with a family who gave him lots of love...
Dogs, God please love and bless them all...You have entrusted them to our care, please let us not fail them nor You...
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