In Alaska, a Fierce Effort to Capture This Dog

In the days after wildfires devastated the Los Angeles area, a formerly stray dog named Jackie lucked into a new life. She was rescued from an overburdened shelter in Los Angeles County, where she faced possible euthanasia, and given a home far away in Juneau, Alaska. But Jackie didn’t stay long, reports the AP. The German shepherd-husky mix slipped her collar on the first day with her new family in mid-February and absconded to a pocket of forest. Since then, she has been living by her wits—eluding a trap that was set with food like cheeseburgers by animal control workers and volunteers worried about her.

The forested area Jackie frequents is near a busy road. Further, black bears are starting to reemerge from hibernation, raising the potential the dog could have an unfortunate run-in. Volunteers have stopped putting out food and cat kibble to avoid attracting bears. “Maybe this is what she wants, is to be free and feral like this,” says Thom Young-Bayer, a Juneau animal control officer. “It’s not a safe way for her to live here.” Young-Bayer and his wife, Skylar, have been searching in their free time, often at night, painstakingly trying to build trust with her.

On a recent day, Young-Bayer caught a fleeting glimpse of Jackie in the lush forest, her dark coat helping camouflage her movements among the stumps and roots. He surveyed the undergrowth and surroundings but came up empty—as did a nearby trap he’d been monitoring for weeks. When Young-Bayer returned to a trail where a fellow animal control officer had been waiting, he learned Jackie had trotted past on a frozen pond.

Lately Young-Bayer has been encountering Jackie on every visit. Young-Bayer says that’s progress. Weeks ago, if Jackie saw someone, she would flee. He and his wife aren’t trying to sneak up on the dog and want to help her feel safe, he said. Mike Mazouch, animal control and protection director for Juneau Animal Rescue, calls efforts to capture her a “battle of wills.” “She is not willing to give up, and we’re not willing to give up, either,” he says. (More rescue dogs stories.)