'Glad to be back': Mud Lake dog teams return home
Not only are people from Mud Lake making their way back to their homes this week — the animals are too. About 30 dogs, who make up three of the island's dog teams, have been returned.
"They're diggin' around there and just glad to be back," Watson Rumbolt told the CBC.
"They couldn't wait to get out of the boat."
Rumbolt's been shuttling the dogs, which belong to himself and two other mushers, back by boat from Happy Valley-Goose Bay over the past number of days. The last three dogs were returned by boat around 11:30 a.m., Wednesday.
'So much support'
"We had so much support in Goose Bay [from] the SPCA and everybody that helped out with the dogs," Rumbolt said.
"Gettin' food for the dogs and whatever we needed. You couldn't ask for better."
Rumbolt stayed behind to care for the dogs after most residents had been airlifted from the community. He eventually decided to use a helicopter to evacuate the dogs in a rescue mission some dubbed "Operation Sky Kennel."
Rumbolt said he's carried on the tradition of dog sledding, passed on by his father. Rumbolt's brothers and sons also have teams of their own.
"We're trying to keep our heritage alive, but it also keeps my father alive in us."
