Massachusetts mayor takes terminally ill dog to B.C. for final epic road trip

For one last time, Mura got to go home.

The Japanese wolf-dog just completed an epic road trip from Attleboro, Mass. to her birthplace on Vancouver Island with her owner for a final visit before she succumbs to terminal cancer.

Her owner, Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux, has loved Mura since he first got herfrom a breeder in 2008. Hesaid he wanted to give her one last, special trip before she dies.

"Rather than taking a vacation overseas that I had been planning, I decided to spend it with her," Heroux told On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko.

"She might not have appreciated what was going on, the significance of it, but I did. For Mura, the 12 days together, the 13,000-kilometre ride... it was just nice for her to be with me.

"She likes being with me."

The trip took them across the continent with stops in Niagara Falls, Toronto,Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, Yellowstone National Park, Seattle and finally Vancouver Island.

Along the way, Herouxtook lots of photos of Mura and posted them online which drew a tremendous viral following.

"I have a public Facebook page and people follow it back in my city, but it really wouldn't be fun or cute if the mayor just keeps posting pictures of [himself] on vacation," he said.

"I thought it'd be more fun if I posted pictures of my dog, because everybody loves her I never mentioned that she had terminal cancer untilwe got to Seattle."

Heroux had never been to the place where Mura was born. When he first got her, Murahad to be flown out to him on the East Coast because of his busy work schedule.

He hopes to come back in a few years to get a new puppy from the same breeder.

Mura, he said, is still in good spirits and has a good level of energy. The cancer has not yet affected her quality of life.

She still loves car rides.

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With files from CBCRadio One's On The Coast