VIP appearances, books and beer: what Valerie the dachshund ...

World-famous dachshund Valerie, who was lost in the wild for more than 500 days, now has merchandise, an ambassadorial role, a public relations representative and a spot on Australian Story.

In November 2023 Valerie’s owners, Georgia Gardner and Josh Fishlock, were visiting Kangaroo Island in South Australia with Valerie in tow. But she escaped from her pen and bolted.

Gardner and Fishlock searched the hilly, rugged terrain for days, but eventually had to return to their home and jobs.

There were unconfirmed sightings after that, while they got on with their lives, moved house and got a new dog.

Then in February this year, a picture surfaced that appeared to be of very dachshund-like ears on a dark animal in a golden field.

Kangala Wildlife Rescue, a charity set up to rescue animals during bushfires, got on the case and used cameras, drones and thermal imaging equipment to hunt for Valerie.

Kangala’s Lisa and Jared Karran and their team posted about the search on Facebook, which kicked off a media frenzy, fuelled by video of Valerie snuffling around the old toys and new treats and roast chicken they’d put out to lure her into a cage.

The owners – and people around the world – were on tenterhooks until Kangala jimmied up a remote-controlled door to a trap and got her.

Valerie is now official ambassador for dog product company The Paws Room. She did a VIP meet and greet for them, raising money for pet adoption service Pound Paws, according to her PR rep.

Valerie-themed beer that “celebrates resilience, community spirit, and a love of good beer” has been launched. Her next public outing will be at an Oktoberfest and dachshund celebration with the profits going to Kangala.

And there’s an “unauthorised” book written about her “unforgettable journey”, with another one coming out next year about “Australia’s bravest sausage dog”.

On Monday night, the ABC aired Dog Gone: The Hunt for Valerie, which looks at how locals pulled together to find the runaway (although not all locals felt kindly towards the “feral” dog).

Gardner tearfully recounted the first, fruitless days searching for Valerie, and the “five stages of grief” the couple went through.

She said the media coverage was “insane”.

“Never have I ever thought I was gonna be on different morning news networks, or the New York Times or the Washington Post or BBC or This Morning UK or Dutch news, German news and French news,” she said.

“There are literally millions of people watching this,” Jared Karran told Australian Story. “If we lose that dog, we are going to be the laughing stock of the world.”

The program details the difficulties in trapping her, with footage of wildlife inside the trap foiling any plans of an automatic door release. He said they faced accusations they were stretching out the hunt for publicity.

People on social media also questioned whether they were in it for the money – the front page of the website still has a call for donations.

“It went from being, you know, ‘thank you for everything you do’ to ‘this is taking too long, you guys are just milking this’,” he said.

But then, thanks to a remote-controlled trap, they got her.

“I had a call from Lisa. She called me and she said ‘we’ve got it’. That will go down as one of the best days of my life,” Gardner said.

Jarrad Karran said they were “blown away” by how healthy Valerie was – she had even put on 1.8kg.

The Kangaroo Island mayor, Michael Pengilly, said he had “no doubt” that she was being fed by someone, while others suspect she hunted rats or survived on roadkill.

The Karrans told the ABC they did not believe she was being fed as they watched how wary of people the dog was, and said the people at the only house near where she was trapped were not feeding her.

“She still never got the courage to actually come up to us,” Jared Karran said. “She was still running away.”

After an emotional reunion, Gardner and Fishlock took her home to meet their new dachshund, Dorothy, who they bought to “keep the memories alive of Valerie”.