These castaways may not have spent as many years on a remote, uninhabited island as their namesakes, hatching one ridiculous scheme after the other to get back to civilization. But their situation was just as dire.
Canadian Junior Cook lives near Cross Lake, a remote community in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Last week, he heard animal cries coming from a nearby island and took out his binoculars to see what all the fuss was about. Off in the distance, he spotted a bunch of shadowy figures standing on a rocky outcropping, but figured the islanders were just wolf cubs play fighting.
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He didn’t think much about it until the next morning, when he heard those far-off cries calling again. That’s when curiosity got the better of him, so he and a friend rowed over to get a closer look. And it’s a good thing, too, because those weren’t wolves. They were 3 ½-month-old Labrador retriever-mix puppies. And they were starving.
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How they ended up as castaways is a mystery, but the men know they had to act quickly. Returning to the mainland, he contacted Norway House Animal Rescue, and volunteers spent the next couple days getting acquainted with the pups and trying to earn their trust. And there’s no better way to do that than provide something they really, really needed: food!
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Though initially scared and wary of human contact, the volunteers won them over and they were soon eating out of their hands!
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Just three days after Junior Cook first heard those plaintive cries, the volunteers rowed ashore with the supplies they needed to bring these castaways back to civilization!
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They’re now happy and safe with their foster mother, who wanted to give their personalities some time to emerge before deciding on their names. Once they did, she and one of the rescuers came up with the ingenious idea of naming them after the characters on the long-running 1960s sitcom, “Gilligan’s Island.”
There were seven islanders total, just like on the TV show, and just like their human castaways, this particular mix included four males and three females. Two of the males, one visibly larger than the other, spend a lot of time goofing around together, thus earning the names “Skipper” and “Gilligan.”
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The rest of the puppies were named after the rest of the characters based on their personalities, like “Professor,” who’s the quietest of the bunch. Once they’ve all recovered from their ordeal, these adorable pups will be up for adoption through Winnipeg Pet Rescue.
But in the meantime, Norway House has been fielding interview requests from as far away as Japan and messages from people eager to provide forever homes for these furry little sweethearts!
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Share to spread thanks that this litter was found and brought to safety!
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