Alaska Traveler Rescues Chihuahua
By Carolyn Norton, HomerNews.com
Staff Writer

Travelers to Costa Rica frequently return to the United States with souvenirs - crafts, leather goods, coffee - and even with new, restrictive luggage regulations, most can expect to make it home with everything they brought.

But when Mary West came back to Alaska after a month in Costa Rica, she wasn’t at all sure she’d make it through security.

She was carrying a Chihuahua in a duffle bag.

“I did not expect to come home with that kind of a souvenir,” West said.

West and her husband, Herb Upton, recently bought property near Tronadora, Costa Rica. West’s sister, Jeanne Manson, owns a house just down the road.

“Jeanne had told me how horrible it is for the homeless (and) street dogs, that there were so many of them starving and running through the streets,” West said.

West and Upton had only been there about a week when they met Bonita. As they drove along the narrow road to Tilaran, West, Upton and Manson saw a small brown dog thrown from the window of the car in front of them.

“There is this small bridge you have to cross every time you’re going to town... That’s where we saw them throw Bonita out of the car,” West said.

West was later told that’s a popular place to abandon animals, because they get run over quickly.

West decided to save the dog and bring her back to Alaska. After one failed attempt at finding the Chihuahua, her brown ears were spotted behind some grass. She was safe. West named her Bonita, Spanish for “pretty one.”

West took Bonita to the veterinary clinic to prepare her for the trip. She took a duffle bag to a shoe repair shop, where it was fashioned into a dog carrier. The only remaining problem was that Bonita was 11 inches tall, and airline regulations required animals in carry-on luggage to be 9 inches or shorter.

West and Upton asked the veterinarian to give Bonita “a little extra” tranquilizer when he prepared her for the trip, to ensure that she would be lying down when she went through airport security, but she was wide awake, standing tall, and gnawing the zipper on her carrier as West and Upton made their way through security checkpoints. No one questioned her size. On the airplane, Bonita escaped from her place under West’s seat and trotted up to first class.

Despite those mishaps, the dog made it to Alaska.

Bonita is now living in Soldotna and Homer with West, Upton, and their Shih Tzu, Dudley. She’s learning English commands and beginning to trust people again.

“When I look at her, she gives me the look like she’s just thankful to be rescued and alive,” West said.

Manson is gathering veterinary supplies to send to a veterinarian and a zoologist in the area. The two are raising money for a mobile veterinary unit to spay and neuter homeless dogs.