Seagoing dog begins life on land
Seagoing dog begins life on land
Ron Staton, Associated Press, Honolulu
She has been promised a lifetime supply of dog food, but Forgea prefers the ham and spareribs she was fed aboard a tugboat after crew members rescued her from an abandoned tanker, they said.
The 2-year-old terrier mix, who spent 24 days alone at sea, arrived in Honolulu Harbor Thursday on the tugboat American Quest, which towed behind it the burned out Indonesian tanker Insiko 1907.
Forgea appeared before a horde of news reporters and photographers wearing a red flower lei. She was held by Dr. Becky Rhoades, a veterinarian and director of the Kauai Humane Society. Flanking her were Brian Murray and Pakalika Cunningham, the two tug crewmen who rescued Forgea from the tanker.
After a photo shoot, the dog was put in a kennel and whisked to the state's Animal Quarantine Station for processing. She would be quarantined for 120 days, as required under state law.
When she is released from quarantine, Forgea will be adopted by the family of Michael Kuo of Honolulu, a longtime friend of Chung Chen-po, the captain of the tanker and owner of the dog.
"Capt. Chung eventually wants to come to Hawaii to get his dog," said Kuo. "He also wants to come and personally thank everyone."
Chung has said that his dog's name is pronounced Hokget in Chinese, which he said means "happiness, good fortune, blessing - all that is good."
A pet food manufacturer, the Iams Co., has donated a lifetime supply of dog food to Forgea, according to Pamela Burns, president of the Hawaiian Humane Society.
Burns called the rescue and safe return of the dog to Hawaii "the perfect happy ending to the story."
Forgea was unintentionally left alone on the crippled tanker on April 2 after the cruise ship Norwegian Star rescued Chung and 10 crew members.
An engine room fire March 13 killed one crew member and knocked out power and communications on the Indonesian tanker, which serviced fishing boats with fuel and supplies.
The tug boat crew captured the dog April 26 when it went aboard the tanker to prepare it for towing. The Coast Guard had hired the tug to tow the ship.
"Our primary mission was to avert the possibility of the ship running aground and causing a major environmental disaster," said Capt. Gilbert Kanazawa, commander of the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office. "But we also wanted to do what we could to rescue the dog."