Small dog found scared and alone on an uninhabited Gold Coast Island will be put up for adoption

Little dog mysteriously left alone on an island will now be put up for adoption after his owners surrendered him.

A LITTLE dog found stranded on an uninhabited island will be placed up for adoption today after his owners legally surrendered him.
The Tibetan Spaniel-Papillon cross, now believed to be named Chai, has been in a Gold Coast pound since July 30 after being found by a Labrador couple kayaking past the area’s Wavebreak Island.

Anne and Peter Salewski spotted the stressed dog running up and down the beach on July 29 and soon discovered he was alone.

After paddling ashore and looking for the dog’s owners, the couple took him to a vet on the mainland.

The lost dog was then sent to the Coombabah Rehoming Centre on Shelter Road, Coombabah, while a vet clinic staff member sent a found notice to the Gold Coast Pets Lost and Found pets Facebook page in the hope of finding his owner.

A Gold Coast City Council spokeswoman said late Tuesday the owner had now surrendered the dog.
“The dog’s owner was contacted by council, who later came into the pound to sign documentation surrendering the animal,” she said.

The spokeswoman said, as per the pound’s standard process, Chai would be transferred next door to the Animal Welfare League of Queensland today for rehoming.

“Several people who either know, or have come into contact with, the dog have already expressed an interest in becoming its new owners,” she said.

The spokeswoman said she was also not aware as to how the eight-year-old, desexed dog ended up on the island.

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Anne Salewski, 64, said the dog was the last thing the couple expected to find when they first paddled past him on the beach of man-made Wavebreak Island about 11am.

“We’d gone off in a kayak and gone out and around Wavebreak Island, to the ocean side,” she said.

“As we paddled past, this little dog was in a panic running up and down the sand.

“His tail was down and dragging along the ground.”

Mrs Salewski said when she and her husband pulled over for lunch, they discovered the canine was on the island alone.

She said she called the dog over, pulled burs out of his coat and gave him a drink of water, before wrapping him in a towel and putting him in the kayak on her lap.

Thinking the dog had fallen off one of the boats moored nearby, the couple paddled him over and asked around, but no one claimed to own the pet.

This was the first photo taken of a dog after he was found alone on Wavebreak Island on the Gold Coast on July 29. Noone has claimed the dog yet, who remains in a Gold Coast pound. Picture: Anne and Peter Salewski

Not wanting to leave Chai alone on the island, the couple took him to Greencross Vets on Brisbane Rd in Biggera Waters about 4pm the same day.

“The girls there were fantastic and fussed all over him. … They said he was lovely and said he kissed one of the cats they had in there,” Mrs Salewski said.

“They named him Captain Wavebreak.”

Commenting under the found post on the Gold Coast Pets Lost and Found pets Facebook page a few days after the dog was found, previous owner Erin Klefisch, said she believed it to be her late mother’s dog, Chai, who was rehomed at the start of the year.

“I am absolutely heartbroken that this beautiful boy has ended up here,” she wrote.

“My mum passed away and sadly we weren’t able to keep him with us.

“His microchip is still registered to my mum so I got the letter today advising he’d been found.”

This Tibetan Spaniel-Papillon cross was found alone on Wavebreak Island on the Gold Coast on July 29. He has been in a Gold Coast pound all week and has yet to be claimed. Picture: Gold Coast Lost and Found Pets/Facebook

Ms Klefisch said she contacted the Gold Coast City Council about Chai, but since he was no longer her dog, she said they would not allow her to claim him.

“If the present owners don’t collect him, he will be rehomed,” she wrote.

Microchipped dogs are kept at the pound for five days, before being sent to the Animal Welfare League for rehoming.

Mrs Salewski said she doubted Chai could swim over to the island.

“I think it would be a bit of a stretch for him to swim that far,” she said.

Numerous other people left comments under the Facebook posts, with some also musing the dog may have fallen off a boat, though others speculated about more sinister possibilities.

“Jeez, I really hope this is a lost doggo and not someone abandoning their dog on an island,” Bec Krojs wrote.

Jill Young added: “Wondering if this poor little darling was stolen then dumped at Wavebreak. Hope he makes it home safe.”

File photo: The Gold Coast Seaway and Wave Break Island. Picture: Mike Batterham

In a comment underneath the found dog post, the administrator of the lost pets page said they had reports of lost pets on the island before.

“We have had a couple escape from campers and tourists there before,” she wrote.

“We are not sure what the story is. Dell.”

Mrs Salewski said she and her husband would apply to adopt Chai.

The 37ha Wavebreak Island was created in 1985 as part of the Gold Coast Seaway construction in a bid to help buffer the Broadwater’s western foreshore from waves coming through the seaway entrance.

The unspoilt island has since become a popular spot for snorkelling or day visits by boaties.