There’s a roo carcass on the side of the road, near the turnoff to one of Kangaroo Island’s many excellent cellar doors. Black ravens lift sullenly from their feast as cars speed past.
Some think this sort of roadkill is how Valerie, the miniature dachshund that has been missing for more than 500 days, has survived since running away from her owners. It’s hard to picture the 4kg, adorable, goofy-eared, big-eyed sausage dog choosing this particular meal, but that’s a prevailing theory.
“Apparently, this thing’s running up and down the north coast. I think it’s old enough to vote now,” local councillor Sam Mumford says. “I can’t believe the damn thing’s still alive … there’s obviously enough roadkill to keep it going.
“But it’s not fair on the dog. Best thing would be if they find it and catch it.”
People have been trying to find Valerie since she went missing in November 2023. Her owners, NSW couple Josh Fishlock and Georgia Gardner, were visiting Stokes Bay, home to one of Australia’s best beaches but also farmland and dense scrub. She fled, and the pair searched for her with the help of locals but to no avail.
Then, in March, reports began coming in that Valerie had been spotted. One picture appears to show the dog’s oversized ears poking above some paddock stubble.
Kangala Wildlife Rescue volunteers have been using surveillance, traps and lures to try to find Valerie. They captured a video of her capering about, apparently healthy, but she remains at large.
On Wednesday, a donor gave Kangala a portable Starlink unit to connect their cameras. “We are flying,” the group wrote on Facebook. Kangala has been almost as elusive as Valerie herself when contacted for comment, but, on Thursday, the group reported another apparent sighting and published a picture it claimed was of Valerie. The group said the dachshund had been “enjoying all the yummy treats on offer after an anxious wait [of four days with no sightings]”.
“Seeing that long body and wiggly bum was just the boost everyone needed,” Kangala wrote.
Gardner remains optimistic that her “little princess”, who loves puppuccinos and chicken, will be found. “They’ve narrowed down the area that she’s in, and they’ve seen her on their cameras, so they’re looking forward … to trapping her,” she says.
Gardner says she and Fishlock are trying to stay patient and hope to get over to the island as soon as she’s found.
But not everyone is as upbeat about a pup’s chances on the vast, rugged land.
Good news story – or too good to be true?
The locals like to point out their island is six times bigger than Singapore. It’s also much wilder – a place where a couple can walk alone on a pristine beach, whales visit, trees grow bent over from the wind, and bushfires occasionally raze the land.
While fancy facilities – a lodge, wineries, restaurants and distilleries – are peppered around the 4,400sqm island, much of it remains untamed, remote.
So the residents are somewhat bemused at the way Valerie’s story has spread around the world. The New York Times reported on the elusive dog, which is still apparently wearing her pink collar. In the UK, the Times wrote of her dodging snakes and eagles, and the Independent commented on her “remarkable resilience”.
Valerie has been painted as a lucky rascal and an unexpected hero in tough times, with a story that has people in far-flung places cheering her on.
“Kangaroo Island is known for many things … dogs that survive for 500 days is not what you expect,” resident and animal lover Louise Custance says.
“I think people just want to have a good news story; otherwise, everything’s so sad. The last global headline that Kangaroo Island made was the [2020] fires.”
Custance believes Valerie “decided that she didn’t want to go back to the city. She liked the island lifestyle, and she’s probably had some support from farm animals or wildlife to stay alive … to find water”.
Others doubt the roadkill story. As Valerie’s mythical status grows, so do the theories. Was she stolen and then just escaped? Should she be saved, or should the native wildlife be saved from her? Can a dog that has apparently been living wild for so long ever be happily reunited with its owner?
Several people with long years of experience on the island say there will be no happy ending.
“She’ll be feral,” says one. “She should be euthanised,” says another.
“I’m surprised a baldie hasn’t got it,” says a third, in jest – while there are no bald-headed eagles on the island, there are wedge-tailed eagles that can carry off.
Kangaroo Island teems with wildlife. The ubiquitous roos and their smaller cousin, the wallaby. Bandicoots, possums, snakes, and a menagerie of birds. Others read like a roll call of Australiana: koalas, echidnas and platypuses. And endangered species such as the KI dunnarts.
The natives face threats, including the much-hated feral cats. Some see Valerie as another feral invader.
A changed dog
The America Kennel Club describes the dachshund as curious, friendly and spunky with a “famously long, low silhouette, ever-alert expression, and bold, vivacious personality”.
But it also says it’s an “independent hunter of dangerous prey … brave to the point of rashness, and a bit stubborn”.
“If it was a larger breed of dog, people would be up in arms trying to hunt it down,” local Ronnie Kreher says.
“They’re good hunters, those little critters; they’re fearless. The cute story of it cruising around living off roadkill is pretty unlikely.
“So it might be just as bad as the cats … the best case scenario is it’s actually hunting cats.”
At the Queenscliffe Family hotel in Kingscote, Carrie Higson is sceptical about Valerie’s survival chances.
“There’s plenty of roadkill, but it would be surprising that she’d last that long. When dogs go missing, they either get stolen or run over.”
Andrew “Aphid” Heinrich says he hopes Valerie is found and returned, and he speculates that it’s the sort of amusing story people just like.
Others agree that it’s a story of hope in a tumultuous world, but they worry it’s a false hope, soon to be dashed.
Prof Paul McGreevy, of the University of Sydney’s veterinary school, says he’s not surprised that Valerie’s “still chugging around”, likely living off carrion and other animals’ poo. Nor is he surprised that she seems to be avoiding the humans who would end her island adventure.
“If I was the shape of a dachshund, with a predisposition to a bad back … they get scooped up a lot and often have awful back pain. No wonder it’s telling everyone to fuck off,” he says.
When asked about how domestic dogs might go feral, he says it depends on whether Valerie has been frightened by people trying to grab her. “Chances are she’s more resourceful, and she may have learned some phobia of humans,” he says.
“She’s not the same dog that the owners last saw, that’s for sure.”
