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US scientist on bird watching tour meets dog she was destined to adopt

10/15/2007  (Liberty Times)

"Little Blackie" is a stray dog that has stayed at the Huisun Forest Station in Nantou County for a while. On October 8, Little Blackie woke up early in the morning as usual and played around and frolicked in the grass. When it was hungry, it would go out into the wilderness and look for things to eat. What Little Blackie did not know was that its fate would see a major change that day. On that day, it would meet a person who would ultimately become its master. In addition, one month later Little Blackie would be boarding on a flight to Alaska in the United States. Its new home would be in the snowy and icy city of Anchorage.

On October 8, typhoon “Krosa” had just hit Taiwan. Verena Gill, a biologist of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based in Anchorage, Alaska, had come to Taiwan to attend a world conference on seabirds. After the conference ended, Verena and about a dozen other people, decided to go on a trip through Taiwan to go bird watching. The first stop on the itinerary was the Huisun Forest Station in Nantou. Just like the dog had done in the past, when the visitors arrived, Little Blackie would come over and make friends with them.

Little Blackie, only four or five months old, is a Taiwan mutt whose looks would not impress many. On October 8th, Verena headed to the lodge at the Huisun Forest Station to register to stay for the evening. She discovered that Little Blackie was following her around. She patted Little Blackie on the head and then got into a car to head to the beginning of a trail two kilometers away where she would begin a hike that she hoped would enable her to catch a glimpse of the Swinhoe's Pheasant.

After getting out of the car for a few minutes, Verena was surprised to see that the little black dog that she had first met at the lodge had run after the van she was riding in for those two kilometers. The dog was panting and exhausted, but came around to stand in front of her. Verena could hardly believe her eyes. Since Little Blackie refused to leave her side, Verena had no choice but to abandon her original plan of looking for the Swinhoe's Pheasant. She waited at the entrance to the trail while the others went on the hike. When the others got back, they all went back to the lodge together.

On the second day, Verena took Little Blackie with her and the group headed to the Aowanda National Forest Recreation Area. The group continued on their bird watching journey. In the evening, she stayed in a small wooden cabin and held Little Blackie close while they went to sleep. At 1 a.m., Little Blackie began to let out a strange yelp. The dog was making so much noise that Verena was unable to fall back asleep. She got out of bed to check out what was going on and discovered that there was a small snake that was slithering back and forth at the entrance to the cabin. Little Blackie was barking at it and the snake decided to back off and head away. The following day, Verena showed a picture of the snake to others. It was only then that she learned that the snake was a Pointed-scaled pit viper, one of the most poisonous snakes around.

Verena said even if Little Blackie was attempting to protect her by scaring off the snake, it still had not occurred to her to adopt the dog. She said that she realized that it was not only an issue of money, but even more difficult would be that the dog would have to get through the many quarantine regulations of both the United States and Taiwan. However, she also could not bear to not see the dog again and therefore decided that she would adopt the dog. Verena decided that no matter how much money she would have to spend or how many difficulties she and the dog would face in the process, she would make every effort to adopt the dog. She intends to give Little Blackie a warm household, even if this new household is thousands of miles away from where Little Blackie was born.

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