By Robert Dean
There is a sacred solace in people just shutting up. We need those moments alone. Because life ain’t doing most of us any favors. There’s a never-ending stack of bills. The kids are unbelievably annoying. They want pizza, but you don’t have pizza money. The whole politics thing is a nightmare. People you used to like are weird, and no one can talk about anything that doesn’t involve an opinion beyond something relatable, like how they want their steak cooked. (Any other answer than medium rare, and you’re a psycho. But, it’s easier to joke about steak than talk about why you bawled alone in the truck today.)
We’re all neck-deep in the waters of indifference, stuck with the burden of navigating life with a broken grocery cart wheel. The term, “smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em,” rings truer every day. Every day, we all need that extra two or three minutes in the car where no one talks, asks for anything or needs anything. The silence is enough. And then, when you get out, the horrors persist.
Instead of being a major bummer, I wanted to relay a small bit of hope that resilience without witness is possible. Sometimes, there are those stories that connect us; even if the species isn’t the same, the heart remains true.
Valerie, a miniature dachshund, has been found safe after surviving 529 days alone in the wilderness of Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Valerie split in November 2023 during a family holiday at Stokes Bay when the little criminal broke free from her pen and ran into dense scrub. Her disappearance sparked a lengthy and high-profile search involving volunteers, conservationists from Kangala Wildlife Rescue, and locals.
Despite the island’s large and wild terrain, known for its untouched nature, Valerie was eventually spotted through camera surveillance and successfully rescued using traps and lures. The little goof outsmarted wedge-tailed eagles, Australia’s largest birds of prey who primarily hunt mammals such as wallabies and possums and are known to scavenge carrion. Rosenberg’s goanna is a five-foot-long lizard that’s basically a little cousin of a Komodo Dragon, and along with those lizards, a plethora of venomous snakes, and feral cats who’ll murder anything in sight call the island home. (Makes you wonder why anyone wants to vacation in a spot like this in the first place, but hey, we have bears and rattlesnakes.)
Valerie was spotted on camera and lured back into a kennel using treats and her favorite toys. And now, she’s back home with her family. During that time fending for her life, the house dog became wild, like in the movies. This is one brutal little animal. How she survived is a feat of resilience that is commendable.
We’re all out here doing our best, and stories like these act as small reminders that if a dog can survive alongside goannas, we can still chug a beer with the neighbor we think is a little weird. Or if you feel like the chips are stacked against you, maybe you need to accept that the world isn’t the problem, it’s you. We’ve all met a lot of those people – not always the victim, but always the problem.
Life can and does kick us in the teeth, shins, and heart regularly. No one lives a charmed life, despite how much someone wants you to believe otherwise. We’ve all been deep in it at one time or another; it’s whether or not we talk about it.
Little Valerie should give you a pause, a small moment of exhalation, so we can hang in there and see that the world is navigable if you’re using the old noodles. I mean, look, I’m a grown man and I am not messing with some big lizard with lizard teeth and hands. Ever seen one of those dudes run? Absolutely not!
Much respect to the little hound for staying alive despite the odds being firmly stacked against her. We could all use that kind of thinking from time to time. I hope she doesn’t decide to go on another adventure; dogs don’t get nine lives last I checked. But she didn’t have to bark loud to show what she was made of – she just did it against all odds. Same as you sitting in your car.
