{"id":307843,"date":"2026-03-01T10:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T10:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/307843\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T10:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T10:38:15","slug":"fishermen-spot-white-wolf-on-icy-river-then-realize-the-animal-is-stuck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/307843\/","title":{"rendered":"Fishermen Spot White ‘Wolf’ On Icy River \u2014 Then Realize The Animal Is Stuck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Early last Sunday morning, two fishermen cruised the frigid Detroit River in a small motorboat. During their ride, they spotted what looked like a white wolf walking through ice and shallow water near a culvert.<\/p>\n

\"AWalter Cross\/The KARENS<\/p>\n

Concerned and intrigued, the men got closer. The wolf turned out to be a stranded dog, trying to get to dry land.<\/p>\n

Strong winds and several concrete pillars made it impossible for the men to navigate their boat close enough to help, so one of them called his wife, who reached out to The KARENS<\/a>, an outreach organization that helps dogs in emergency situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin an hour and a half, [we] had loaded up some ladders and headed out to the area,\u201d Chantal Rzewnicki, cofounder of The KARENS, told The Dodo. \u201cWe found the property, and we just couldn’t get in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AThe KARENS<\/p>\n

The dog, later named Gordie, sat on a large ice chunk in the frigid water, surrounded by 12-foot-tall concrete walls.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy guess is [Gordie] jumped down when it was actually frozen,\u201d Rzewnicki said.<\/p>\n

\"AThe KARENS<\/p>\n

Despite their best efforts, The KARENS couldn\u2019t get the dog up and out. Rzewnicki called Michigan Humane<\/a> and the fire department for help. The next morning, a rescue team arrived.<\/p>\n

Wearing wetsuits in the 6-degree Fahrenheit weather, the humane society team members climbed down a ladder into the icy culvert.<\/p>\n

\"FirstThe KARENS<\/p>\n

\u201cGordie was fearful and nervous,\u201d Michigan Humane\u2019s director of marketing and communications, Lish Dorset, told The Dodo. \u201cWe believe he had been in the water for at least 24 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wading through water, the team reached the dog and managed to pull him up and out with the help of a catch pole.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was really hungry,\u201d Rzewnicki said, \u201cand he was hypothermic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AThe KARENS<\/p>\n

Gordie was rushed to Michigan Humane, where Dorset said he remained quiet, yet alert, while vets examined him.<\/p>\n

\"AThe KARENS<\/p>\n

Remarkably, Gordie was uninjured. Even more incredibly, vets determined he\u2019s around 8 years old. Rzewnicki wondered if Gordie had lived on the streets his whole life or just recently found himself without a home.<\/p>\n

\"AMichigan Humane<\/p>\n

Either way, the dog is in good hands now. Over the past few days, Gordie\u2019s spent his time snoozing on warm blankets in his kennel and meeting new dog friends.<\/p>\n

\"ShelterMichigan Humane<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s doing well,\u201d Rzewnicki said. \u201cHe’s eating well. He’s warm. He’s not showing any signs of aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully, sweet Gordie will find a permanent home soon, a safe distance from frigid rivers.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to keep up with Gordie, you can follow Michigan Humane on Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you’d like to support the incredible work done by The KARENS, you can donate via their website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Brave<\/a>Brave Shiba Inu Guards Her Babies Under A Tree For Weeks Until Help ArrivesShe never gave up on them \u2014 or herself.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Early last Sunday morning, two fishermen cruised the frigid Detroit River in a small motorboat. During their ride,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1178,1986,9219,168106,9213,168105,2145,111,139,69,31252,168107,7429,147,1177,1175,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-307843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-daily-dodo","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-dog","11":"tag-dog-rescue","12":"tag-dogs","13":"tag-husky","14":"tag-michigan","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nz","18":"tag-pets","19":"tag-river-rescue","20":"tag-sarah-ashley","21":"tag-science","22":"tag-standard","23":"tag-the-dodo","24":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}