HI!! This happened to me a few years back. Alaska State Troopers didn't do a DARNED thing. I figured it all out and did all the work, as soon as the man got home he had messages from me telling him I knew and that he was in trouble.......I lied, he suffered no consequences. Only took a day after I contacted Wisconsin for a sherriff to go to the man's home and sieze my dog. I didn't even have a case number until a couple of weeks after she was home. The district attorney didn't even prosecute the man, who owns property here in Alaska, and comes to fish and hunt every year, at least he did then, he may be dead by now....................... the dog was valued at $2000, but "because it was an animal, it wasn't worth his time". I was so mad. Up here where I'm at, shoot and dig a hole's your best shot. If the troopers ever even show up..............if you're lucky 2 hrs.....................to 3 days later even. The thing that really makes me mad is the the EWSPCA wanted to sue him to recoup their $$ for the plane ticket and couldn't because he had never been charged in Alaska. I'd better stop............. getting all wound up. DON'T FEEL ALONE!!
Posted Sept. 17, 2004
Debbie Enockson embraces Survivor Thursday at the Sheboygan Humane Society Shelter. Survivor is a sled dog that was stolen from a woman in Alaska and recovered in Wisconsin. Press photo/Bruce Halmo
Plymouth woman saves stolen pooch
By Emmitt B. Feldner
Sheboygan Press staff
If a dog has to earn her name, then a 14-month old Alaskan Husky named Survivor has certainly more than earned hers.
A plane trip of 3,000 miles today from Milwaukee to Alaska completed an odyssey for Survivor that began when she was stolen last month from her owner in Willow, Alaska, about 120 miles northwest of Anchorage.
Through the efforts of Debbie Enockson of Plymouth, a member of the Eastern Wisconsin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Alliance of Wisconsin Animal Rehoming Efforts, Survivor was recovered from the northern Wisconsin man who stole her.
When something like this comes up, youve got to do what you can, said Enockson, 44, who owns Softnet Computer Services in Plymouth.
These are really wonderful people, said Nancy Crowden, Survivors owner, said of Enockson and the others who helped her reunite with Survivor. Shes just been so wonderful, so open and loving to me and my dog.
Crowden, 47, said Survivors ordeal began Aug. 16 when a 71-year-old man from Mason came to Alaska looking for sled dogs for his nephew to race in the Iditarod, Alaskas famous annual 1,150-mile sled dog race. The man came to Crowdens home, where she raises Huskies, and took Survivor while she was away.
I was totally devastated when she was taken, Crowden said, adding that she couldnt sleep the night Survivor was taken and was sick all the next day. Shes just a neat little dog.
A neighbors surveillance video of the rural road she lives on showed a pickup truck with red and white license plates going into and out of her property. She contacted the Alaska State Patrol and, after checking where the man was staying in the area, found that he had indeed taken her dog and returned to Wisconsin.
Although he contacted Crowden when he got back to Wisconsin and said he was sorry he took the dog and would get it back to her as soon as possible, a week later there was still no more word from him. When state troopers in Alaska said there was nothing they could do to help her, Crowden took matters into her own hands.
Thats where Enockson and her group came into the story. Crowden went on the Internet to find a local SPCA in Wisconsin and found the eastern Wisconsin group and Enockson, who contacted the humane officer in Bayfield County. After sheriffs deputies recovered the dog, Enockson contacted an AWARE member in Hurley who provided kennel space for Survivor over the Labor Day weekend. EWSPCA member Ann Voigt picked up the dog on her way back from her cabin up north and brought her back to Sheboygan, where she has been staying at the Humane Society shelter until EWSPCA could make arrangements to get her back to a relieved Crowden.
Im just overwhelmed with gratefulness, Crowden said by telephone Thursday from Alaska. I cant wait to get her home. Its really beautiful of these people, what theyve done to get my dog back. They dont know me, they didnt have to, but they did. Ive got tears in my eyes just talking about it. Without them, I probably would never have seen my dog again.
Crowden, who is on disability, could not afford to pay to have Survivor shipped back to Alaska, so the local EWSPCA is picking up the $1,000 cost of flying her back home.
Its just nice to put a happy ending on something like this, especially when it could so easily have gone the other way, Enockson said.
Reach Emmitt B. Feldner at
[email protected] and 453-5119.
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Friday, September 24, 2004
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News
Local News
Survivor returns from unexpected voyage Outside
By MICHAEL WHITE/Frontiersman reporter
WILLOW -- A sled dog aptly named Survivor returned home Sept. 17 after being gone nearly a month since her abduction from her home in Willow.
On Aug. 16, Willow musher Nancy Crowden left her home to go pick raspberries. When she returned, she noticed one of her dogs was missing, along with the dog's chain.
Crowden called neighbors across the street knowing they had surveillance cameras set up on the street. They told her a truck had been in her driveway for nearly 10 minutes and they had recorded the truck on video.
With tape in hand, Crowden called the Alaska State Troopers and delivered the tape to the Talkeetna station. With information from the tape and a few phone calls Crowden said she was able to find out who probably took her dog and learned that the suspect had just left the state and was returning to his home in Mason, Wis.
"I was totally devastated when she was taken," Crowden said, adding that she couldn't sleep the night Survivor was taken, and was sick all the next day. "She's just a neat little dog."
Troopers called Dean Chambers, the man Crowden had tracked down, and told him it would be in his best interest to return the dog as soon as possible. Chambers reportedly had called Crowden and left a message saying he was sorry for taking the dog and would return her, but never called back, leaving her to make the next move.
Crowden contacted the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Wisconsin and found the eastern Wisconsin group and Debbie Enockson, a member of the SPCA, who contacted the humane officer in Bayfield County.
After sheriff's deputies recovered the dog, Enockson contacted an AWARE member in Hurley, who provided kennel space for Survivor over the Labor Day weekend. Then, Eastern Wisconsin SPCA member Ann Voigt picked up the husky while on her way back from her cabin up north and brought her back to Sheboygan, where she stayed at the Humane Society shelter until EWSPCA could make arrangements to get her back to a relieved Crowden.
"When something like this comes up, you've got to do what you can," Enockson said.
Crowden, who is on disability, could not afford to pay to have Survivor shipped back to Alaska, so the EWSPCA picked up the $1,000 cost of flying her back home.
"What these folks in Wisconsin have done is really wonderful, and I think the story needs to be told. I never thought I'd see Survivor again," Crowden said. "I'm just overwhelmed with gratefulness."
"It's just nice to put a happy ending on something like this, especially when it could so easily have gone the other way," Enockson said.
Old-time Alaska
Valley Life editor
MASCOT driver wins 'roadeo'
Valley Life editor
Survivor returns from unexpected voyage Outside
WILLOW -- A sled dog aptly named Survivor returned home Sept. 17 after being gone nearly a month since her abduction from her home in Willow.
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2004 Frontiersman.com.
