2024-01-01 20:13:00
Published1. January 2024, 9:13 p.m.
Rescue of lost huskies: “Dogs responded to their cries in the mountains”
Two dogs who escaped near Zinal on Thursday spent more than 24 hours alone, at an altitude of 2,300 meters. It was ultimately an Air-Glaciers helicopter that rescued the lost doggies.
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Next time, Akela and her daughter Tahiti will probably think twice before venturing alone into the Valais mountains. Because the outcome might have been dramatic for these two female huskies. Thursday, in the middle of the day, those who were going for a hike with their mistress fled upon their arrival at the Plats de la Lée parking lot, in Zinal (VS). “I don’t know what happened, they sprinted and quickly gained altitude. They must have seen an ibex,” says Laura. This Genevan, a regular local, was able to track them for a bit thanks to the GPS attached around Akela’s neck. But it stopped broadcasting around 8 p.m.
Akela and Tahiti are very happy to have found their loved ones, following a sudden escapade at high altitude.
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A surge of solidarity
“My mom and I spent the night in the parking lot, calling them. It was only in the morning that we heard them screaming. I immediately recognized their cries,” reports their owner. But impossible to locate the dogs from the valley. Additionally, the place was inaccessible on foot. During this time, a solidarity movement was created. “Dogs responded to their cries in the mountains. Hikers, whom we had encountered a few hours earlier, were coming back towards us to find out where we were. People were nice, they worried regarding me. Looking back, it was touching. But at the time, I was very stressed, continues the 24-year-old young woman. Not to mention that many believed it was a pack of wolves. I feared the hunters…”
View from the helicopter. The two dogs didn’t look stressed at all.
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Laura alerted everyone. She contacted guides, the police, the firefighters… Ultimately it was Air-Glaciers which would carry out the rescue mission. “I was afraid that we would not find them because they are not very visible with their white hairs…” relates the Geneva resident. Repeated barking and the helicopter pilot’s keen eye made it possible to quickly locate the doggies. A relief.
Their first flight
But the place, located at around 2,300 meters above sea level, was too steep to land the machine. It was finally around 4 p.m. Friday that the 50-meter longline was deployed, with Laura and a guide suspended in the air. “Akela and Tahiti were calmly waiting for us on a small flat sheltered from the snow, as if saying: ‘It’s only now that you are arriving!’, their owner laughed. When we landed next to them, they were super happy! They jumped on us! It was total joy!”
A first for the rescue team. “It’s a unique rescue,” says Romain, who was a flight assistant during the mission. The latter is used to rescuing lost hikers or injured livestock in the mountain pastures in the summer. “We were surprised by the reaction of the dogs, who although tired, did not seem any more frightened than that,” he confides. In 2022, the airline’s crews carried out more than 3,260 rescue missions, a record. This is another great story to add to the 2023 list.
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