Coast Guard The U.S. Coast Guard took over rescue operations for castaway dog Forgea on Tuesday, backed by a $50 million federal oil pollution fund to deal with the tanker that the mixed-breed white terrier was refusing to leave.
takes over mission
to rescue dog
An oil-pollution fund
Dog has fans worldwide
will foot the bill
Bird sanctuary in tanker's path
By Janis L. Magin
Associated PressThe burned-out Indonesian tanker Insiko drifted into U.S. waters near Johnston Island early in the day with Forgea still hiding onboard, a Coast Guard spokesman said. Its proximity to U.S. territory allowed the U.S. Coast Guard to tap the fund to deal with the tanker and the dog, the said Chief Petty Officer Tyler Johnson.
The captain of the Honolulu port, Capt. Gilbert Kanazawa, on Tuesday opened up access to the emergency fund authorized by the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to handle potential fuel spills near U.S. shores, Johnson said.
“Since the vessel has drifted, it’s 180 miles east of Johnston atoll. It’s in our 200-mile exclusive economic zone,” he said. “This means that now it’s up to us to monitor it because it’s a potential disaster -- it’s carrying more than 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel and lube oil and we don’t want it to run aground and spill.
“It’s a marine environment, so it’s extremely sensitive,” he said.
As it deals with the tanker, the Coast Guard also will deal with the dog, Johnson said.
The Humane Society prematurely celebrated Forgea’s rescue on Sunday, calling a news conference and thanking the fishermen who had boarded the derelict vessel and the public for its support in saving the dog.
Officials assumed then that Forgea would soon be on the fishing boat, but the next morning fishermen from two boats were still trying to lure Forgea out of the fire-damaged interior of the tanker.
On Monday, the Humane Society had to backtrack and referred to Forgea as “close to rescue.”
Because of the March 13 fire that killed one crew member and left the Insiko without power or communication, it was too dangerous for the fishermen to follow the dog inside the vessel.
The Coast Guard also planned to recover the dead crewman’s remains, Johnson said.
The dog, the crewman and the potential oil spill are three equal concerns, he said.
“None of these are going to be neglected for the other,” he said.
A tugboat was scheduled to leave Honolulu Tuesday night, but won’t get to the tanker for three or four days, Johnson said. The Coast Guard may also send a plane to investigate on Wednesday, he said.
Once there and after rescuing the dog, the decision will be made whether to sink the vessel or to tow it either to Johnston Island or back to Honolulu, he said. A third option is to allow the wind and current move the tanker past the atoll so that it is no longer a hazard.
“It’ll float into somebody else’s area, or the owner of the vessel or the country that it’s registered under will take charge,” Johnson said. “Basically we’re protecting the United States’ interests.”
Forgea has been alone on the tanker since April 2, when the cruise ship Norwegian Star rescued the dog’s owner, the Taiwanese captain, and 10 crew members. The captain and a crew member who was burned in the fire returned home to Taiwan on April 6.
A Coast Guard plane looking for the tanker spotted the 40-pound dog running back and forth on the deck on Saturday. The unnamed fishing boat reached the tanker Sunday morning.
The Hawaiian Humane Society says it spent $48,000 in a failed effort to save the dog, but the effort was abandoned April 7, with the group saying they believed it had sunk with Forgea onboard.
On Saturday, 500 miles from where the captain and crew were rescued and 250 miles form Johnston Island, a Coast Guard C-130 spotted the Insiko.
The Oil Pollution Act was passed after the single-hull Exxon Valdez ran aground and spilled 11 million gallons of oil in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, fouling more than 1,000 miles of Alaska shoreline.
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Money spent on the rescue of the 2-year-old dog Forgea would purchase more than a month's worth of food for the homeless at the Institute for Human Services in Hawaii, according to Executive Director Lynn Maunakea. Dog aid the envy
of social servicesForgea's adventure has a high price tag
and a huge following on the InternetBy Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com"Somehow people seem to be more compassionate to this dog than they are to some of our homeless (people)," Maunakea said.
The Hawaiian Humane Society has spent $48,000 as fishermen from two fishing vessels try to coax the dog, which was left aboard the crippled tanker Insiko 1907, onto one of their vessels. Authorities said Forgea remains hidden in the lower deck of the vessel.
"As you might imagine, Forgea is exceedingly fearful, and attempts to rescue her have scared her even more," said Pamela Burns, president of the Hawaiian Humane Society.
Forgea -- the phonetic spelling of a Mandarin word that means prosperity, happiness and good fortune -- has survived aboard the tanker for 19 days after 11 crew members were rescued by a cruise ship April 2. The body of a crewman, who was killed in an engine room fire, still remains aboard the Indonesian tanker.
Though people are sympathetic to the Humane Society's effort, Maunakea said she hopes people would have the same compassion for humans.
"I wish people in general would assign the same value to all human life as they're giving to this cause," she said.
In response to the criticism, Linda Haller, director of shelter operations at the Hawaiian Humane Society, said people spend thousands of dollars on other causes. "What makes one right over the other?" Haller asked.
The Humane Society hired the American Marine Corp. for $48,000 to search for Forgea, a female white mixed terrier.
Additional time spent on the search-and-rescue efforts have been donated by the salvage company and the two fishing vessels, Burns said.
"If the bill were to be paid, it would be at least two, three, four, five times that amount (or up to $250,000) if we were paying for all the actual costs relating to that," Burns added.
Burns said Insiko captain Chung Chin Po "is very pleased the dog was rescued," and approved of a friend's interest in adopting the dog.
The society has collected more than $40,000 in donations worldwide to help with costs.
The rescue efforts have drawn national attention. Web sites for CNN and Netscape posted a poll questioning whether private funds spent on the search effort are justified.
As of 7:30 last night, nearly 60 percent agreed the expense of rescuing Forgea is justified.
More than 80,000 people responded to the Netscape poll. Fifty-nine percent said the $50,000 search effort was too much, while 41 percent voted the amount was sufficient.
Coast Guard officials continue to track the tanker, which contains about 240 tons of diesel fuel, said Lt. Desarae Atnip, spokeswoman for the 14th U.S. Coast Guard District.
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U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials were to meet this morning to discuss the environmental impacts on a wildlife sanctuary if the crippled Insiko 1907 tanker were to run aground on Johnston Island. Drifting ship could
threaten bird sanctuaryStar-Bulletin staff
Rusty Nall, vice president of American Marine Corp., said that his company had been hired by the Coast Guard and that it was possible the company would tow the Insiko into deeper water, where one possibility would be to sink the ship.
As of this morning, Forgea, a two-year-old white mixed terrier left aboard the ship, was still eluding would be rescuers who boarded the burned-out tanker in an effort to rescue it.