Hiker finds half-breed in cave
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Bitch survived two months in Missouri wilderness
This photo, provided by Gerry Keene, shows a 13-year-old dog named Abby found by cavers.
Photo: AP/Gerry Keene
New York A clandestine excursion almost became fatal for Abby, a poodle crossbreed. But the dog lady from the US state of Missouri proved her resilience despite her old age.
Jeff Bohnert had given up all hope of seeing his Abby once more. The poodle mix disappeared in early June and now two months have passed with no sign of life from the lady dog. But then a neighbor wrote a text message to Bohnert: Hikers had found a dog in a nearby cave. Could this be Abby?
Bohnert had great doubts, but was still curious. So he headed to the cave near his home in Missouri, USA. There, one of the animal rescuers showed him a photo and it was clear to him: “This is my dog.”
The story of Abby’s toughness becomes even more amazing when you know that the dog is almost 14 years old. Yet she somehow managed to survive almost 60 days alone, apparently most of it in a barren, pitch-dark cave in 14 degrees Celsius.
In her everyday life, Abby does everything together with Summer, Bohnert’s other dog – even stupid ones. On June 9, the two ran away from home, their owner recalls. It had happened before, and in the rural area near Perryville in eastern Missouri it wasn’t a cause for concern. The dogs roamed the fields, maybe chasing a small animal or two, and then always came back home.
The next morning, however, Bohnert found only Summer in the house, Abby had disappeared. “They never break up,” he says. “I thought something bad had happened.” After all, Abby was already old and might have had problems with the heat. The dog owner went in search, informed neighbors and the police and also placed a wanted ad on Facebook. But nobody had seen Abby.
The lady dog’s rescue came in the guise of a group of adults and children taking a trip to Berome Moore Cave on August 6th. One of the children ran ahead and called out to the father: “Here is a dog.” The father didn’t want to believe that, says Gerry Keene, who was part of the group.
But there was actually a dog. “She just lay there, curled up in a ball,” Keene recalls. “She lifted her head and looked at us, but she didn’t respond to calls. It looked like she was regarding to die.” There was no way the weakened dog might walk the 150 meters or so to the cave’s exit – through narrow passages and up a slope – but once once more Abby was helped by chance. Another local hiker was a trained cave rescuer. Rick Haley got a blanket and a holdall from his car. The blanket went into the bag and Abby, who was clearly enjoying the comfort following weeks on the cold floor.
Still, getting the dog out of the cave wasn’t easy. Everyone was very careful with Abby, says Haley. And following regarding an hour and a half, the dog saw daylight once more.
Now Keene asked nearby houses if a dog was missing there. A neighbor reached out to Bohnert, who lives close enough to the cave that he can see it from his house. Bohnert did not believe that the stray animal might be his Abby. How might a 13-year-old dog survive such an ordeal?
To his astonishment, she was. One of the rescuers gave Abby a bite of beef. “She almost bit his finger off,” says Keene. A short time later the dog was awake once more.
Bohnert suspects that Abby fell into the cave through a hole in the ground or a hidden entrance. Paw prints indicated the dog lady was trying to get back out. Afterward, Haley and Bohnert believe, she crouched down and fed on her own body fat. “I think she went into survival mode,” says Bohnert.
Abby normally weighs 23 kilograms. Bohnert estimates that she lost half her body weight in the cave. She has now gained weight and can bark once more, having lost her voice probably from calling for help. The lady dog is wagging her tail once more – a sign for her owner that she has left the ordeal behind.
“It’s amazing how she’s reviving,” says Bohnert. “She’s quite her old self once more.”