A dog named Nanuq survives 160-mile journey across the sea ice

Early last week, Michael Ahkinga, Jr. was heading into his family’s home in Wales to sit down for coffee with his dad. Suddenly, the family dog and his sister’s dog ran up from the beach with an unfamiliar companion following them. It was an Australian shepherd with black, white and brown coloring.

“He was real quiet and shy,” Ahkinga said. “I thought it was just somebody's dog from here that they let out or something.”

Ahkinga and his family started looking for the owner around Wales. But no one seemed to know where the dog came from. It’s very unusual for a new dog to just show up there. Like most of the villages in the region, Wales is miles from any other inhabited town and not connected by roads.

Ahkinga helped take care of the dog, who seemed a little weak. As soon as the pup got inside, he just slept until the next day. After several days, the dog seemed happier and was becoming more lively. “He started being bossy when he rested up a little more,” said Ahkinga. They were growing a bond, and he began thinking he might keep the dog if they couldn’t find an owner.

Then last Thursday, Ahkinga’s family widened their search. They posted a photo of the dog on the Nome Chatter Facebook group asking if anyone knew his identity. Members of the group quickly made a connection. He looked exactly like a lost 1-year-old pup named Nanuq from Gambell on St. Lawrence Island, more than 160 miles away across the Bering Sea. Living up to his namesake, the polar bear, Nanuq survived an incredible journey across the sea ice to get to Wales.

Owner Mandy Iworrigan said her dogs Nanuq and Starlight had run off in mid-March along with her uncle’s dog Ghost. This happened while Iworrigan was on a trip to Savoonga with her kids for a family funeral. She hadn’t been to Savoonga in over 19 years so it was an important trip—and an expensive one. But she was able to fly there with donations and Bering Air points.

On the last day in Savoonga, during a basketball game, her daughter told her she saw a dog that looked like Starlight while playing outside. Iworrigan said she assumed it was just a doppelganger when the dog greeted her.

“I told the dog, ‘You're not our dog, you gotta go home, you don't belong to us,’” Iworrigan said. But then she noticed the tail was the same, the collar was the same, and even the way the dog ran alongside her daughter was the same. She doesn’t know how Starlight ended up in Savoonga, but she was able to get her home on a Bering Air flight.

Iworrigan told people in Savoonga to look out for Nanuq in case the two dogs traveled together and got separated. Her uncle’s dog Ghost is still missing. She was in disbelief when Nanuq showed up in Wales a couple weeks later, and she was thankful to the people who took care of him.

“I just prayed and had faith he would come home, and he did,” she said. “Sure enough, a lot of people helped out. There's caring and loving people out there. We need more of that.”

Serendipitously, a chartered Bering Air flight was traveling from Wales to Gambell that afternoon. The plane was carrying athletes headed to the Bering Strait School District’s annual competition for the Native Youth Olympics, which was being held in Gambell this year. There was room for Nanuq, and a teacher in Wales let Iworrigan borrow a kennel.

Ahkinga went to the airport to say goodbye.

Now Nanuq is at home and being treated with antibiotics for what appears to be a bite wound.

Emily Stotts, the animal control officer for Nome and the region, was aware of the incident, but said she didn’t view it as a feel-good story. 

“I just think letting dogs out loose is never going to be okay, and almost every single village has at least a rule about dogs being loose,” Stotts said. “An unknown animal and an unknown community is never going to be a safe situation.”

She said she didn’t want to vilify the owner, but Stott’s job is to limit the unregulated transport of animals in the region—not just for the safety of the dogs, but also other animals and humans. Although Iworrigan said her dogs were up to date on their shots, Stotts said even dogs that are vaccinated against contagious diseases like Parvo can still be carriers.

“I get that things happen that are out of our control,” Sotts said. “That's why it's so important that the things that are within our control are paid attention to.”

Stotts explained that she is especially concerned with preventing such situations because Gambell experienced a double outbreak of rabies and distemper in 2021. The state took the outbreak so seriously, Stotts said, that they sent up a USDA professional population culling team and nearly blacklisted the whole Nome region from letting dogs travel regardless of their vaccination status. 

Gambell recently signed up to be part of the Regional Animal Care and Control initiative, Stotts said. Through this program, the Bering Sea Humane Society sends enrolled villages free vaccines, free dog food, free straw, dog houses and any kind of animal care or animal control related resources.