Comments on: The Berkeley Pit Mascot

The Berkeley Pit Mascot

445supermag — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:28:02 -0800

"The Auditor", an amazing dog, lived a long life in one of the harshest environments, the Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana. The mine site has no vegetation, the water in the pit is full of heavy metals and very acidic (pH 2.5) and yet the Auditor held on long after mining operations halted. He has inspired a web site and even an art project.

By: tristeza

tristeza — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:33:59 -0800

Wow, so poignant somehow. Thanks.

By: Staggering Jack

Staggering Jack — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:44:37 -0800

Wow, I didn't think anything could live in the Pit. Nice post.

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:44:42 -0800

Really, really cool. Three cheers for The Auditor.

By: ulotrichous

ulotrichous — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:45:28 -0800

Fantastic post.

By: nj_subgenius

nj_subgenius — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:45:51 -0800

17 years? Holy crap. Great post. Thanks!

By: Guerilla

Guerilla — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:51:54 -0800

Awesome post ~ thanks for sharing. It's nice to see that he lived his life the way he wanted to... those are some serious dreadlocks.

By: Item

Item — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:58:09 -0800

Somebody should tell Reader's Digest.

By: Staggering Jack

Staggering Jack — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:58:46 -0800

It looks like the Auditor inspired more than one art project.

By: DieHipsterDie

DieHipsterDie — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:59:32 -0800

Rasta dog. What a great story. Thanks.

By: The God Complex

The God Complex — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 15:01:45 -0800

Neat.

By: afrooz

afrooz — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 15:18:12 -0800

The doll is vaguely disturbing:

The dog is cute though.

By: invisible ink

invisible ink — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 15:51:38 -0800

I love dog posts. Thanks:-)

By: Wulfgar!

Wulfgar! — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 15:58:00 -0800

I still don't believe it. I know the Berkeley Pit all too well, and I still don't believe it. Heh!

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 16:12:18 -0800

Wow...I recall hearing about him a while back--and to see him on MeFi is really a treat!

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 16:24:36 -0800

What a cool hound.

By: melissa may

melissa may — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 16:30:14 -0800

I love this post. Thanks.

By: killdevil

killdevil — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 17:09:04 -0800

How moving. Truly good stuff.

By: biscotti

biscotti — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 17:16:28 -0800

Very cool post. Looks like he was most likely some sort of Poodle mix. I wonder where he came from? He lived a long time, and I wonder where he was when he disappeared, maybe he had a secret cushy home life somewhere (somewhere they didn't believe in brushes, obviously).

By: falconred

falconred — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 17:40:41 -0800

What a great story! Thanks for the post.

By: 445supermag

445supermag — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 17:51:49 -0800

maybe he had a secret cushy home life somewhere I don't think there is a cushy place in Butte. (But I sure do miss Montana, to misquote Big Daddy Ed Roth "California has turned into a police state full of generic japanese cars")

By: Phatty Lumpkin

Phatty Lumpkin — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 18:25:01 -0800

He died just before tax day, too.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 18:39:49 -0800

Wow. That made me want to cry.

By: BlackLeotardFront

BlackLeotardFront — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 19:27:14 -0800

What a great story - makes tears well up just thinking of his long, lonely life. Aargh..God. How could you post that, you vicious bastard?

By: fungible

fungible — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 19:40:16 -0800

That's some dog.

By: yhbc

yhbc — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 19:55:57 -0800

Phatty, it looks like from the "a web site" link that he actually died back on November 18, 2003, but it's still a great story, and a great post.

By: carter

carter — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 20:15:28 -0800

Thanks, 445supermag!

By: googlebombed

googlebombed — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 23:05:33 -0800

Great post and very interesting read. Thank you!

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 00:20:13 -0800

Now The Auditor can join the ranks of the ex-Montanans who say with a straight face that Butte is a great place to be from.

By: PY

PY — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 01:35:01 -0800

From his obituary: According to the dog's wishes, Auditor's remains have been cremated. The more pictures I view of the Pit, the more astonished I am that he lived out all of his life from 1986 within it.

By: Onanist

Onanist — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 01:57:09 -0800

Loved that, thanks!

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 03:03:05 -0800

You know what they say about white boys and dreadlocks. That dog had ISSUES!

By: [insert clever name here]

[insert clever name here] — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 03:57:14 -0800

I would have to guess that Auditor is a Komondor. Though I couldn't find any official reference to this, the friends (or "freinds") of Auditor seems to make some unofficial nod at this.

By: biscotti

biscotti — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 08:17:01 -0800

I would have to guess that Auditor is a Komondor. While he is superficially similar in appearance to a Komondor, it's important to remember that Komondors are quite rare in this country, so the odds of this are very low. I'll also point out that Poodles' coats will cord like this (and a corded coat is in fact an acceptable show coat for the Poodle in many clubs, even though very few people bother to allow the coat to cord, so most people have never seen a corded Poodle), Poodles come in white, and Poodles are very common. Hence my opinion that it's much more likely that he was part or mostly Poodle, than Komondor.

By: crank

crank — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 09:00:59 -0800

The mine site has no vegetation, the water in the pit is full of heavy metals and very acidic (pH 2.5) RIP, Mordor dog.

By: BobFrapples

BobFrapples — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 09:22:18 -0800

"The Auditor" That may be about the best dog name ever. Anytime you name a pet "The (Anything)"... gold!

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 11:32:33 -0800

This is a great post. What an amazing dog...very cute too.

By: deborah

deborah — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 12:21:29 -0800

What a story, and what a dog. *sniff* Thanks, 445supermag.

By: Mid

Mid — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 12:28:11 -0800

445, I'm glad you did the FPP after the exchange in AxMe. I told you it was great! What's amazing is how Auditor survived the winters. I would imagine much of the winter in Butte is below zero. Also, how did he see through all that hair? Also, imagine how he smelled.

By: Mid

Mid — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 12:31:45 -0800

Also, he kind of looks like a Great Pyrenees to me.

By: patrickje

patrickje — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 13:26:08 -0800

awesome story