Dog returns to family after epic 150-mile journey across sea ice

A family has been reunited with their dog after it made an epic 150-mile journey across sea ice.

Nanuq, which means bear, made the journey after being separated from his owners.

The 1-year-old Australian Shepherd lives in a community on St Lawrence Island, an Alaskan island close to Russia.

Nanuq's owner Mandy and her family were visiting friends on another part of the island when he disappeared along with another family dog, Starlight.

Although Starlight turned up a couple of weeks later, Nanuq was nowhere to be found.

A month later the family were told there were pictures of a lost dog wandering the city of Wales on Alaska's western coast.

When Mandy looked at the photos on social media she knew it was Nanuq

"I was like, 'No freakin' way! That's our dog! What is he doing in Wales?'" she said.

The surprise? Wales, Alaska was 150 miles away from where he had disappeared - about the same distance as walking from Blackpool on the west coast of the UK to Bridlington on the east!

And if the distance alone wasn't enough, getting from the island to the Alaska mainland would have meant crossing miles of sea ice.

Mandy managed to get their dog back home to St Lawrence island using a regional flight.

Other than a swollen leg and some bite marks from an unidentified animal, possibly a seal, Nanuq was unharmed.

The family were overjoyed to have him back, but it is still a mystery how he managed to travel so far.

"I have no idea why he ended up in Wales. Maybe the ice shifted while he was hunting," Mandy said.

"I'm pretty sure he ate leftovers of seal or caught a seal. Probably birds, too. He eats our Native foods. He's smart."