From the Yukon to Oklahoma: Lost dog finally reunited with her family

A dog who was lost and then found after a fatal highway accident near Haines Junction, Yukon, last month has now been reunited with her family in Oklahoma.

On Wednesday, Gary Stockwell of Tulsa was able to hug, kiss, and pet his dog Meena — something he didn't think he would ever be able to do again.

"An amazing reunion," Stockwell told CBC News. "Soon as she saw me, she just went crazy because she knew I was her human.

"We both fell down and sat on the ground and she was jumping and licking. She was as happy as I was, and last night she slept on the bed right next to me. She wasn't going anywhere."

The happy reunion is just what Stockwell needs right now, as he mourns his daughter. She was killed in the highway accident that left Meena stranded in Haines Junction. 

On October 1, 26-year-old Macey Stockwell, accompanied by Meena, left Fairbanks, Alaska, to make their way by road to Tulsa.

Just outside of Haines Junction, they were involved in a single-car rollover and Macey didn't survive.

Gary explained that when first responders arrived at the accident scene, Meena was nowhere to be found.

"She was lost in the woods for nine days," he said. "Well I wouldn't call it lost. She would come out and sit by the accident site but if somebody walked up, or drove up she would run back into the woods."

Meena was eventually caught, and taken in by Haines Junction's Mayor Bruce Tomlin and his wife Gwen Watson.

Gary said they were in contact trying to figure out ways to get Meena home to him. Gary, grieving for his daughter, longed to have his little dog by his side.

"I tried several times like, 'what can I do for you?'" he explained. "'How can I help? What do I need to pay to get her home?'"

But each time, Gary was told they would take care of it. 

"They were even going to spend the money themselves and fly her. They were trying to get somebody to take her to British Columbia so they could fly her home," he said.

Rob McPhie lives in Haines Junction and he's not surprised by how his community stepped up to take care of Meena. McPhie's sister helped look for the dog when word got out that she was missing. 

"There's a group of volunteers here or old-school people that will break their back to help you," McPhie said. "And hats off to them." 

Eventually, another offer of help arrived. A couple who lives part time in Alaska, and part time in Oklahoma offered to make the 5,000-kilometre drive from Haines Junction to Tulsa to ensure Meena was delivered to Gary, safe and sound.

"I didn't know it but they were tagged with the first story that the CBC did," Gary said. "Somebody had tagged her [in] that story and she contacted me and Gwen, and they said 'don't worry about it. We're picking her up and we're taking her home.'"

Stockwell said he has never known a community like Haines Junction before. He's grateful to everybody who helped reunite him with Meena.

"Not one of them had to do anything," he said. "They didn't know me, they didn't know my daughter, but they went above and beyond what anybody has ever done. The gratitude that I have and love for them is just unimaginable."

Now that Meena is home with him, Gary said he can focus on healing. Losing his daughter has been difficult.

"Right now with [Meena] being home, it's the only thing I have left of me and my daughter ... Am I going to get over this? I doubt it, but can I at least heal and try and be a little bit better? Yeah. Me and Meena, we're going to be OK," he said.

"It's just going to take us a little bit — but we'll be alright."