By Sentinel Staff
The coronavirus pandemic is destroying lives and the economy, the struggle over racial injustice is roiling the globe, divisive politics is tearing apart the country.
But today, there’s Phoebe.
Phoebe (Photo provided)
She’s a 4-pound chihuahua who went missing on the 4th of July, slipping out the door of her home on Baranof Street while fireworks were going off.
This morning her owner, Nikki Audette, called the Sentinel to see about running a “lost dog” notice: “Her name is Phoebe. She’s all white with two brown eyes. She’s 10 years old, about 4 pounds and is very skittish. She’s been lost since the evening of the 4th. We miss her very much and would love to have her home with us.”
Audette sent the paper a couple of photos of Phoebe, and the Sentinel crew composed a notice and sent it, along with sympathy, to her to proofread.
But minutes later Audette sent an email: “Phebs was just found!!!”
Turned out a passerby, Kevin Knox, had heard her crying somewhere among the rocks at Crescent Harbor, had called police, who called the animal control officer, Ken Buxton, who went looking for her in the rocks.
Meanwhile, Knox texted Byron Hunt, Phoebe’s other owner, who immediately went to the harbor. (Audette is in Anchorage; gets home Wednesday.)
It took awhile for Buxton to find Phoebe – “She goes quiet, she gets scared,” Hunt said.
But Hunt said Buxton finally spotted her and cried, “I got her!”
Phoebe was handed to Hunt, who said she was scared at first but once they got in the truck “she wouldn’t leave me.”
Hunt made a video of her when he got her home. Her tail waving happily, she can be seen running back and forth from her food and water dishes and around the room. Hunt sent Audette the video and she posted it on Sitka Chatters.
Hunt said he and Audette have no idea where Phoebe was for the past three days. He said he and 10 or so others had walked all over looking for her.
But now she’s home, a happy ending to at least one news story today.
“She’s snoozing away,” Hunt said.
