A dog is lastly back home with her family in Portland after surviving 9 days alone in the Washington wild after falling over a ridge.
Penny, a three-year-old miniature Australian Labradoodle, went on a backpacking journey through Mount Shuksan in northern Washington with her owner, Kim Spiro, and her friends. They hiked 5 miles and several thousand feet elevation, from the trailhead to their campsite near Lake Ann for a weekend break trip.
Penny was on a leash during the hike. Once they got near the lake, Spiro took her leash off, not realizing that there was a high drop off into a 600-foot canyon nearby.
Suddenly, Penny went chasing a kicked rock and disappeared past the tree line. Spiro panicked and rapidly ran after her, but she was no place to be found. She even hiked a mile in each instructions to look for her, but there was no Penny in sight.
The next morning, Spiro went to the side of the gorge and heard a faint barking in the distance. She figured it was Penny, but there was no way to come down the ravine, nor was there any kind of mobile phone service.
Once they returned to the trailhead, Spiro contacted Summit to Audio and the Washington State Pet Response Group for help.
A dozen volunteers from the rescue groups appeared the next day with deals with and rope gear in the hopes of finding Penny, however to no avail.
They even used 2 drones and also searched the area for 10 hrs, however still couldn’t find her.
Just when Spiro began to lose hope, she received a telephone call that Penny had been found, nine days after she went missing.
A group of hikers were getting ready to climb up the Fisher Chimneys at Mount Suskan, when a dog ran in front of their vehicle.
That canine was Penny. She was frightened, shivering and weeping, but she lived. She jumped into their car and gladly ate some food that the hikers offered her.
Among the hikers, Helaina Hurwitz, drove Penny back home with her and called the park rangers, who had actually currently been aware of Penny’s disappearance.
They were able to get in touch with Penny’s family, that after that drove to Hurwitz’s home in Seattle to rejoin with their adventurous puppy.
Although Penny had somehow made it through the nine days in the wilderness, she managed to break some teeth and cut up her chin, but she is anticipated to make a complete healing.
It is unknown how she handled to make it back to the trailhead parking lot. However, they think she might have walked the 15 miles, following 2 creeks along the forest.
The forest is filled with coyotes, cougars and bears, so it is certainly a miracle that Penny made it out alive.
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