Cruise ship rescues puppy who drifted at sea & fended for himself on an atoll

[Bluebear]

HONOLULU — Snickers is only eight months old.

But the cocker spaniel already has spent three months adrift on a 48-foot boat and survived four months on a tiny Pacific atoll where his owners, Jerry and Darla Merrow of California, left him when they were rescued by a cargo vessel.

Now Snickers is in Honolulu, rescued by cruise ship workers, the Hawaiian Humane Society, an airline, and others who have united to find him a home.

"It's an amazing story of a lot of people working together to save this puppy," said Evans Hoyt, captain of NCL's Pride of Aloha. "He's a very, very lucky dog."

Efforts to find a telephone number to contact the Merrows were unsuccessful...

The report said the Merrows' catamaran developed mast problems after setting out from California. In the first week of December, the vessel finally drifted to Fanning Island, a populated but tiny atoll about 1,000 miles south of Hawaii. It hit a reef and the couple swam 200 yards to shore with Snickers and their macaw named Gulliver.

The pets were left in the care of some islanders, but Baurile said the animals apparently weren't cared for very well, "because they don't have the same concept of what pets are."

Joslin said the bird was being taken of, but the dog was actually "left to fend for itself."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351714,00.html

[Maddy McCall]

1. What a precious little guy.

I didn't read the whole article. Were the Merrows reunited with the little guy?

And how funny that the bird was named Gulliver.

[and-justice-for-all]

2. The poor puppy doggy...

I feel so bad for him, I am glad the doggy survived.