N.B. news: Missing dog from Maine found on Deer Island
If only Frankie could talk, he could fill in the details about his journey from the U.S. mainland to a Canadian island.
Frankie went missing on Sept. 9, after he and his sister Gracie slipped by a dog sitter in Perry, Maine. The next morning, it was discovered that Gracie had died after being hit by a vehicle. There was no sign of Frankie.
Ronda and Blake Shavers were determined to do everything to find the dog they had adopted four years earlier.
“He wasn’t the strong one out of the two,” said Ronda. “(Gracie) was the smart one. He followed along, she was the alpha. It was just devastating. We didn’t know what to do, or where to go. You put posters up, call everybody, the dog warden, wildlife people, vets… you just wait.”
There was a Frankie sighting a few weeks later in nearby Eastport, Maine, but an extensive search wasn’t successful. Then, Ronda and Blake decided to place an advertisement in the Eastport-based Quoddy Tides newspaper.
Mike Cline is a Deer Island resident who saw the advertisement while working in Alberta. Cline also remembered seeing a social media post from Deer Island, about a dog that had recently appeared at somebody’s door without its owner.
“I looked at the picture and I went back and opened up Facebook, and it looked to be exactly the same dog,” said Cline.
The social media post Cline remembered seeing was from Kathy and Vaughn Lambert, sharing that a dog had shown up at their door early Sept. 29
“The minute I had that door opened he almost knocked me over,” said Vaughn, with a laugh. “He ran in the house so fast and went up the stairs and plunked himself right down there.”
The Lambert’s had already contacted the SPCA, and Cline reached out to inform the Shavers about his hunch.
“We were a little leery,” said Blake. “We were thinking how in the world could he possibly be on Deer Island? It must be somebody else’s dog.”
Last week, the New Brunswick and Charlotte County SPCA facilitated a reunion confirming, “sure enough it was our Frankie.”
“We have no earthly idea how the boy got to Deer Island, that’s the mysterious part,” said Blake.
A map showing Maine and Deer Island, N.B. (Google Earth)
The notion of Frankie swimming from the mainland to the island would have to consider several kilometres, cold water, not to mention the nearby Old Sow Whirlpool.
“That’s quite a swim,” said Blake. “But I know that deer and moose do it, occasionally. So possible? Yeah, but we just don’t know how that transpired.”
When Frankie finally returned home to Perry he was treated to a steak dinner, followed by a day-and-a-half sleep.
The Shavers said they would soon visit Deer Island with Frankie by ferry to thank residents for their help, in person.
