Stranded dog rescued from High Arctic sea ice

Kimnik, the Resolute Bay dog that accompanied two Dutch researchers on a trek near Bathurst Island, was rescued alive over the weekend. The two researchers, Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo, are presumed to have drowned. (PHOTO COURTESY OF COLD FACTS)

A rescue mission was able to retrieve a husky stranded on broken ice in the High Arctic this past weekend, at the same site where two Dutch researchers are believed to have drowned days earlier.

A polar research organization called Cold Facts coordinated a rescue mission May 2 to an area about 200 kilometres northwest of Resolute Bay, where Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo, both from the Netherlands, had been conducting research on ice thickness.

The pair, which had been skiing around Bathurst Island since early April, sent out a distress signal April 29.

Aerial search and rescue efforts have only been able to locate the men’s equipment near an area of open water. Aircraft searchers also spotted a husky that was travelling with the researchers, stranded in an area with poor ice conditions.

A Cold Facts-organized mission was able to rescue the dog alive May 2, the organization said. The husky, named Kimmik [sic), belonged to a local wildlife officer from Resolute Bay.

In a post on its website, Cold Facts said Kimnik was hungry, but otherwise fine when rescued.

“We thank Kimnik very much for her dedicated work protecting our team members Marc and Philip,” the May 2 post said.

Due to poor weather, the mission to recover the bodies of the two men had to be postponed until a later date, Cold Facts said.

Cornelissen and de Roo left Resolute Bay on skis April 6 as part of a two-month research trip focused on what’s called the Last Ice Area, a High Arctic region where ice is predicted to persist the longest in the face of climate change.

But the men’s research appears to have cost them their lives, leaving colleagues in a state of grief.

“We are shocked and saddened by the presumed drowning of Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo off Bathurst Island,” said David Miller, president and CEO of WWF-Canada — one of the organizations that funds Cold Facts’ work.

Over the past two decades, these passionate and experienced researchers worked tirelessly with WWF to document the effects of climate change in the Arctic,” Miller said. “Their loss will be felt across the environmental community.”