Dog Rescued From Derelict Ship
The dog that drew world attention as she was stranded aboard an abandoned fuel tanker once believed to have sunk was rescued Friday by the crew of a tugboat, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Ready with a trap, the crew hired by the Coast Guard didn't have to use it to capture Forgea. They found the dog on board and put her inside a portable kennel, said Chief Petty Officer Tyler Johnson.
"The dog was on the deck and they grabbed it," Johnson said.
Petty Officer David Mosley told CBS Radio News the dog was running around quite a bit and they "a had a heck of a time trying to capture" Forgea.
Johnson said the 2-year-old mixed-breed white terrier that had lived with the mostly Chinese crew aboard the Indonesian-flagged Insiko 1907 since she was a puppy would be moved to the tugboat American Quest, after crewmen get the tanker ready for towing.
The Coast Guard had sent the tugboat to prepare to move the tanker away from Johnston Atoll out of concern that it could break open and spill its 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel, polluting waters around the island, which is U.S. territory.
Forgea had not been seen since Monday when she scampered below deck to evade fishermen from Honolulu trying to coax her off the ship.
The Insiko had been drifting about in the Pacific, hundreds of miles southwest of Honolulu and on Friday was within 100 miles of the U.S. atoll, according to the Coast Guard. An earlier $48,000 rescue attempt was abandoned after authorities said they believed the tanker had sunk with Forgea aboard.
After several days, the ship was spotted and a Coast Guard plane dropped pizza, granola bars and oranges for Forgea.
Linda Haller, director of shelter operations for the Hawaiian Humane Society, said the American Quest crew had planned to set a trap for the dog but had not planned to pursue Forgea.
The tug crew now will attempt to recover the remains of an Insiko crewman who died in a March 13 fire that disabled the tanker and left it without communications. His body is believed to be in the flooded engine room.
The rest of the ship's crew was rescued April 2 by the luxury cruise ship Norwegian Star, but Forgea was left behind.
The Coast Guard has been in communication with the family of the dead crewman to determine their wishes if the remains are recovered, said Lt. DesaRae Atnip, public affairs officer.
The Coast Guard is considering towing the tanker to deep water and sinking it at a depth of about three miles, Atnip said. At that depth, the diesel fuel would dissipate before reaching the surface, she said.
A final decision on what to do with the derelict tanker is expected early next week, she said.
Plans called for the dog to be placed in mandatory quarantine on Kauai Island, where a smaller facility will allow staff to give it more attention, the Hawaiian Humane Society said. Most pets arriving in Hawaii are kept in Honolulu's large quarantine facility, where they remain in pens for up to four months.
The dog was the pet of Chung Chin Po of the Insiko, and friends of Chung in Honolulu have said they want to adopt Forgea if Chung is unable to take her to Taiwan, according to the Humane Society.
Three animal care experts from the Humane Society had planned to leave this weekend to try to rescue Forgea.
Besides Haller, the team was to include David Pauli, director of the regional office of the Humane Society of the United States in Billings, Mont., and Dr. Rebecca Rhoades, a veterinarian and executive director of the Kauai Humane Society.
They were taking a stun gun but were hoping not to have to use it.
Rhoades and the others defended the cost of the earlier rescue attempts, which the local Humane Society said has been covered by donations and funds from the national society.
"This case reminds us all of compassion and respect," she said. "It is our duty to try to rescue this dog. The Humane Society's mission is to prevent animal suffering."
The Coast Guard tapped into a special environmental fund to deal with the tanker when it drifted into waters within 200 miles of U.S. territory.