‘In disbelief’: Owners mourn death of missing French bulldogs found dead in crab pots

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU/Gray News) - Alaskan authorities say they found the remains of two missing French bulldogs in crab pots during a routine inspection.

Alaska Wildlife Troopers wrote of their discovery in a dispatch last Friday.

The two bulldogs named Yoda and Whiskey went missing in February. Yoda’s owner, Esther Martin, said they were brothers.

“Honestly, I’m still a little in disbelief,” Martin said. “They were the sweetest dogs you’d have ever met. They would have jumped in a vehicle with anybody.”

Martin said her husband and brother-in-law had brought their dogs with them to the active logging unit they were working on near Thorne Bay.

On Feb. 13, they took a break at 9:30 a.m. and realized the dogs were nowhere to be seen.

“The dogs have gone to work with them every single day since we got them back in June. So it was very uncommon of them to disappear the way they did,” Martin said. “We were immediately suspicious but had hoped that they would return on their own, and it just took longer and longer.”

Martin said the pair of men finished their day after five more hours of work, and their dogs still hadn’t returned.

“My brother-in-law searched throughout the night. He went back to the same area multiple times after they got done working,” Martin said. “We left items of clothing, we left their dog beds, we left food. We rode around on the quad for days just searching every road, every muskeg, every trail and they were just gone.”

The family posted on social media and hung up flyers offering a reward of $1,000 for a no-questions-asked return.

Since the dogs’ remains were found, they raised the reward to $2,500 for any information leading to the discovery of someone responsible.

Martin said the family hadn’t written off the possibility of a wolf attack until wildlife troopers announced their discovery.

“They were friendly beyond measure and when I think about just their final moments, I hope it was swift,” Martin said. “I can’t think about it too long because they were so sweet and they were so loved.”

Martin said she believes the crab pots were unmarked and the dogs were in separate pots not too far away from each other.

She said there were no markings or leads on the buoys for the pots to her knowledge.

Toopers dropped the pots back down in hopes of catching someone returning to check the pots or pull them up.

“What I was told is that someone went back in the night and pulled them or cut the ropes or something because those pots were no longer in that area when AWT went back out to check them,” Martin said.

The family’s reward for information is still ongoing. They ask anyone with a tip to contact Alaska State Troopers at 907-826-2918.