Blind dog home after being lost in California woods for 7 days
Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A blind dog that wandered away from her family's California
home
and into the nearby woods was found seven days later in the Santa Cruz
mountains.
Beth Cole of Boulder Creek said her family's blind Labrador retriever, Sage,
wandered
into the forest Feb. 24 after Cole's family believed the dog had been brought in
for the night.
"Our neighbors and other members of the community helped us search day and night
for a week," Cole told the Santa Cruz Sentinel. We looked everywhere.
Cole said she was concerned about dropping temperatures at night and recent
mountain
lion sightings in the area.
"We'd almost given up hope," Cole told KSBW-TV.
Dan Estrada, Cole's neighbor, was out hiking with friend Victor Lopez and two
dogs
Saturday when they spotted a white shape in a nearby stream.
"At first I thought it was a garbage bag in the water," Estrada said. My vision
is
not very good so it wasn't until I got closer that I saw it's actually a white
lab
laying there lifeless in this stream -- her chin just above water level.
Estrada said he feared Sage was dead until she lifted her head slightly.
"When we saw she was alive, I jumped in the stream and hugged her," Estrada
said.
Man, it was really emotional.
He said Sage was too weak to move on her own and her current location was about
to
turn dangerous.
"It had been dry that week and the new rain was moving in," Estrada said. When
we
found her she didn't have the energy to lift herself out. That streambed would
have
been flowing during a rainstorm.
Estrada, a paramedic and EMT for the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department, slung
Sage over his shoulders and carried her out of the woods.
Cole said Sage, exhausted but uninjured, is resting and recovering at home.
"We've always loved our community, but this really re-enforced what a special
place
this is," Cole said.
Estrada rejected a $1,000 reward from Cole's family, asking instead that the
money
be donated to an animal cause. He and Lopez created some custom dog leashes for
each
day that Sage was missing and are planning to auction them off at a March 18
celebration
to benefit
Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter.
Copyright 2017 by United Press International
