Rescue efforts underway for stranded Great Dane

By Pat Maurer
Correspondent

Since Monday, Clare Animal Control Officer Bob Dodson has been trying to rescue a Great Dane stranded on an island in Cranberry Lake in Hayes Township near Harrison.
Catching the dog has been difficult. The area she is wandering in is “about the size of five football fields, Dodson said. It is surrounded by marsh and low muddy land except for the center of the area which is higher, he said. He believes the brown and white Great Dane slipped her collar, running away and swimming across a canal to reach the island where she is stranded. He urged anyone who happens to spot her to take pictures and call the Animal Shelter.
Dodson’s first attempt to catch the dog, a female, was on Monday, after tracking the dog using a drone, but he wasn’t able to keep up with her. He said, “Clare Police brought their drone out. It even has infrared and we could see her before she dissappeared in the marsh grass.
He said he didn’t want to “push the dog too hard and exhaust her too much because she had been out there for 12 days as of Tuesday, saying she is thin, frightened and may be dehydrated. He said pursuing her could exhaust her and even trigger a heart attack.
Dodson went back to the island Wednesday to set up a humane live trap in hopes of catching her. Canine Recovery from Mancelona also brought a trap he said. “We set one up where she has been sleeping on the higher part of the Island, and one where she has been eating.” He said people have been leaving food for her in one place and that is where they put one of the traps, which each also have a camera that will notify him if she triggers one of the two traps. “We have hot dogs, dog food and even spray on flavoring in and around the traps. Hopefully she will go in one of them.”
He said he had called Harrison Lumber and “they are going to donate pallets so we can make a better path to an open area on the island where we will set a trap for a few days, fingers crossed.”
If that didn’t work, he said plans were to go back with volunteers on Thursday in an attempt to get her into one spot and catch her. Dodson was asking for volunteers and said in a Facebook post, “You will get wet and muddy, and you will sink in spots to the knee. Bring something to help you walk.”
He added, “I’m going even if it is just me,” adding, “11 days she has been out there. [It’s] hard to sleep at night knowing this.”
By Tuesday he learned that he won’t be alone in searching for the great Dane. The story on news media brough “a bunch of volunteers,” he said Tuesday afternoon.
He said the people who first spotted her called Animal Control last Wednesday. After the story was on multiple media outlets, the dog’s owner saw the news and reported her missing.
Bob said the owner surrendered the dog to Animal Control Tuesday morning. “Now, once we catch her, I can get treatment for her,” he said. “I already have a foster home set up for her.”
He said her name is Zaria.
In an update on Thursday morning, Animal Shelter Volunteer Linda said they are “very close to catching the Great Dane.” She said Zaria was at the trap for 90 minutes Wednesday evening and had even put her head inside. “We are hoping she will go in today or tonight,” she said. “We have a volunteer staying just across from the island and giving us regular updates and Moores Canine Rescue is helping us.”
She said if the trap doesn’t catch her the Animal Control and volunteers will herd her until she is safely captured.