Earlier this month, a team of dedicated people worked together to help get a dog that was trapped on an Arizona mountainside back to her owner.
The ordeal began when good Samaritans spotted a light-colored dog on a cliff while hiking Sugarloaf Mountain, a popular trail near Cottonwood, Arizona.
They reached out to a local rescue group, which started the rescue efforts by posting on Facebook after the dog was discovered on Feb. 7.
Katrina Karr, the president, founder and lead trapper for the Yavapai Humane Trappers Animal Search and Rescue Team, said the response the group got was amazing.
“So people had seen it on the cliff and called them, and we were just on it from there,” Karr told KSAZ-TV.
[firefly_embed]
[/firefly_embed]
“The post went viral. I mean, it was shared all over the place. We were getting hundreds and hundreds of messages from people that were — that had the experience and wanted to help, and it was amazing.”
One of the posts shared to the Yavapai Humane Trappers Animal Search and Rescue page showed photos of the poor dog perched precariously on a small ledge, unable to get down.
“We are needing very strong experience rock climbers to help with this dog,” Karr had written. “Kirk Landauer is the one that can hold onto rope and grab dog but we need people to hold the rope. Dog has food and water and is safe tonight. Rescue will be in the morning please tag or send to people that can.”
After the post circulated, a man identified by the Verde Independent as Rob Canfield reached out to Karr to say the dog was his Labrador/Shepherd mix “Goldie,” who had gone missing after a recent misadventure.
“About 10:30 at night, I got the call from a man named Robert saying, ‘Hey, I think you found my dog,’ and so we talked, and he described her collar, and it was her,” Karr said, according to KSAZ. “It was Goldie.”
Canfield explained what had happened.
[firefly_embed]
[/firefly_embed]
“Goldie and their other dog took off after some javelinas, and then like an hour after that, their other dog came back, but Goldie didn’t,” Karr said. “So we think that Goldie actually chased the javelinas up through there, and she just got stuck up there and was scared to come back down.”
While they were unable to rescue Goldie on Feb. 7, they made sure she was provisioned with food and water, and the next morning a team of about 15 people showed up to get her down.
[firefly_embed]
[/firefly_embed]
Her owner was there, too, and he was the one who made the dangerous climb onto the ledge where she was trapped. She was happy to see him, but she was nervous to cross a section of the ledge.
As the Jerome Fire Department’s technical rescue team arrived in its ATV, she made the jump and was able to follow Canfield back down.
[firefly_embed]
[/firefly_embed]
“Thank God we had an owner it made her rescue so much easier owner Robert got her through the difficult part and after that she followed him down,” Karr posted in an update on the group’s Facebook page.
“Big Thanks to YHT’S Verde Valley team, Big Thanks to Kirk Landauer Sandy Macbeth with Sedona Independent Trappers, Big Thanks to Kara Frank who is an independent animal rescuer and a HUGE SHOUT OUT to Chief Muma of Jerome and his team for stepping up!!!”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
