Dog nowhere in sight during tanker fly-over
| • | Dog saga grows contentious |
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Forgea was nowhere to be seen when a Coast Guard C-130 circled over the derelict refueling tanker Insiko 1907 yesterday, but Humane Society officials here said they think the two-year old mixed terrier is still alive.
"We believe she is scared and she is below deck," said Pamela Burns, president of the Hawaiian Humane Society, which co-sponsored an unsuccessful $50,000 search for the Insiko before it was found by the Coast Guard Saturday.
The Coast Guard relocated the Insiko at about 180 miles east of Johnston Island, roughly in the same spot the boat was estimated to have been the day before. The boat's drift had slowed from about 1.5 miles an hour to less than half a mile an hour, Coast Guard spokesman Tyler Johnson said.
Lt. Rob Keith, pilot of the aircraft, said he and his crew first determined that the Insiko was not leaking oil, was not listing, and was no lower in the water than when first seen last Saturday.
"We then circled to see if we could see the dog," Keith said, first from a distance of about three miles so as not to scare the dog, but we didn't see her." Keith then brought the C-130 in to within 250 feet of the tanker and still did not see the dog on deck.
He said he was not surprised, and that his co-pilot, who saw the dog on deck on the flight last Saturday, had noted the dog seemed "skittish" even then.
Fishermen who went aboard the Insiko Sunday saw the dog and left food for her but couldn't catch her and didn't see her again before they gave up Monday morning.
Burns said if Forgea is not captured in one of two humane traps being delivered to the vessel by the tug American Quest tomorrow or Saturday, the society will fly two animal care experts to Johnston Island.
The experts could then take a small boat to the Insiko and board the ship to try to find and retrieve Forgea, she said.
She said the American Quest, hired by the Coast Guard to make sure the Insiko doesn't run aground on Johnston and cause a disastrous oil spill, can tow the Insiko closer to Johnston to make the boat trip easier.
But the Insiko can't be brought so close that rats could jump from the ship and swim to the island, jeopardizing bird life there, she said.
Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
