Few experiences are as distressing as realizing a cherished pet has disappeared.
The uncertainty is overwhelming—you don’t know where they’ve gone, what they might be doing, or whether they’re safe. Rachel Howatt knows this anxiety all too well.
In December, Rachel’s husky, Koda, slipped away from her home in Manitoba, Canada. Rachel spent hours searching the surrounding woods, but there was no sign of her dog.
Then, a couple of days later, Koda suddenly reappeared at the house, acting as though nothing unusual had occurred. At the time, it seemed like a simple return home.
Later, however, footage from a nearby camera revealed that Koda’s disappearance had been anything but ordinary.
“We definitely searched for her, but in the end, she just came back. She is really smart, so I didn’t doubt she could find her way home,” Koda’s owner later told the media.
Thankfully, Koda returned unharmed. Still, several days after her return, Rachel decided to follow up with a neighbor who lived close to the wooded area.
The neighbor had installed a trail camera in the forest near their home, so Rachel asked if it had captured any images of Koda while she was missing.
When they checked the footage, the answer was clear—it had.
The camera didn’t just record Koda wandering through the woods. It also revealed her unexpected companion: a male deer.
In the images, the buck could be seen resting beside the husky, sharing space peacefully, and even eating and sleeping near her. Throughout the night, Koda appeared relaxed and playful, spending hours alongside the deer, which seemed completely unfazed by her presence.
She had made a very unlikely friend.
The footage showed the two animals playing together and curling up to sleep side by side.
“It was quite something,” Rachel told the media. “Based on the time they spent on the frame, it looked like they spent over 12 hours together. There’s also another photo where there’s two bucks in the picture with her.”
Howatt added that Koda’s behavior didn’t come as a surprise.
“Huskies have such a free spirit,” she said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that Koda was trying to make a new friend.”
