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Hok Get to lie low Hok Get, the celebrated sea dog, will not be making any guest appearances on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" or any of the national network morning shows anytime soon.
after successful rescue
She gets a clean bill of health
from a vet but will not make
any national TV showingsThousands spent in recovery
By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com"We're not going to expose her to any cameras," Eve Holt, Hawaiian Humane Society director of community relations, said of the numerous requests to bring the rescued canine to a national TV audience. "She has been exposed to enough. The primary purpose was getting the dog rescued, and we are certainly delighted with that."
The 2-year-old brown-and-white mixed terrier was taken to a private clinic after she arrived yesterday morning in Honolulu Harbor on the tug American Quest to waiting news cameras and reporters.
Hok Get was rescued from the burned-out tanker Insiko 1907 after being adrift for 25 days. The captain's pet was left behind after the crew was rescued April 2 by the cruise ship Norwegian Star.
The crew had been adrift on the tanker since a fire on March 13 that disabled the ship and killed a crewman.
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A veterinarian at a private clinic gave Hok Get a clean bill of health yesterday after a thorough examination, according to Holt. The veterinarian wished to remain anonymous. Hok Get will probably stay at the clinic for another day or two, Holt said."She seems to be in pretty good shape," Holt said. "She is suffering from a little bit of stress. Other than that, she has no major health problems."
Hok Get weighed in at a healthy 22 pounds when examined by the staff veterinarian at the animal quarantine facility at Halawa, who said she looked surprisingly well for what she has been through, said Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi.
The dog shook as she was fitted with a microchip, Saneishi said. She will be flown to the satellite quarantine facility at the Kauai Humane Society.
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The Kauai facility will quarantine the dog free of charge for the required 120 days, which started yesterday.There are indications she was not eating a balanced diet, Holt said.
The tanker's crew had left an ample supply of food, including lots of crackers and water rations for the dog.
Brian Murray, diving supervisor on the tug, said Hok Get was neither hungry nor thirsty when crew members first approached her last Friday. They found her hiding under a pile of tires at the forward area of the vessel and slowly approached, petted and then grabbed her.
The dog eventually bonded with the tug's crew and would curl up next to the captain in the wheelhouse or under the galley table.
Tugboat captain Pat Williams said the dog had to adjust her sea legs to the less stable tug. "You could tell she's been on a boat," he said. "She's a regular sea dog."
After sponging her down the first day, Murray got Hok Get cleaned up for her photo op by showering with her.
Michael Kuo, who will adopt Hok Get, was unable to give her a red, white and blue crepe paper lei. But he said he will visit the dog on Kauai in about a week after things settle down.
"I've got to meet her, and they will introduce me as her legal guardian," he said. Although the Insiko's captain has intentions of eventually retrieving the dog, Kuo said, the dog may not want to leave Hawaii.
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Gina Kawananakoa, who had chartered a Gulfstream jet for $15,000 to search for the dog and made a $5,000 donation to the Humane Society, said she plans to visit the dog, too.Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer Tyler Johnson said a private company will be handling the removal of up to 60,000 gallons of fuel on board the tanker and the removal of the body of a crewman Nian Gi Huy, who apparently died during the fire on the ship.
Yesterday, PENCO workers placed a boom around the tanker after it was moored at Pier 24 to protect the waters from residue or leakage.
The owners of the ship have sent a letter saying that they cannot afford to take responsibility for the ship and pay the estimated $100,000 cost of off-loading the fuel, removing the body and towing the boat back, said Coast Guard public affairs specialist Erica Ryan.
So far, the cost of intercepting the Insiko 1907 and towing it and the dog back to Honolulu is coming out of an oil cleanup fund.
The body of the dead crewman Nian G.I. Huy has not yet been located because the conditions below deck are unsafe, Ryan said. A ladder into the engine room, where the body is believed to be, had melted off and the floor below decks was unstable.
"That's quite a bit of heat," Johnson said. "There's a possibility that the body was incinerated in the fire."
The crewman's family has requested that his body be sunk with the ship, but the Coast Guard has not decided what to do with the ship yet and is not sure if it is legal to leave the body on the ship.
Many have criticized the thousands of dollars spent on rescue effort for the dog.
A lone protester, Mike Coleman, stood outside the gate of Pier 24 yesterday morning with a sign that read, "Nice doggie. May I please have a quarter-million to help at-risk children?"
Coleman was trying to draw attention to his cause to aid at-risk youth, asking where people's priorities are.
"I have a hard time to get money for living children in Honolulu that really need help badly, but they just go out and spend a quarter-million for a dog from another country," he said.