The snow was five feet deep and temperatures expected to drop to -2, so the rescuers have no choice but to hurry. Rescuers trekked over the steep terrain of the Sierra Nevada and after slogging up into the mountains following the tracks, Leona Allen spotted a dark shape under the tree.
It wasn’t moving.
But finally, they found what they are looking for, a dog named Russ. A skier discovered the pit bull mix, took photos, and posted it on Facebook telling him that he’d come across a dog trapped in the snow, unable to move.
That sparked Allen’s rescue effort on behalf of Tahoe PAWS and TLC 4 Furry Friends, an animal search-and-rescue nonprofit based in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
As Allen stood there, she couldn’t tell whether the dog was dead or alive. “And then he opened his eyes, and I’m pretty sure I screamed,” Allen said.
The four-month odyssey of Russ in the Lake Tahoe Area ended. It was assumed that he braved wildfires, snowstorms, and perhaps even a standoff with a coyote.
Russ got lost when he was spooked and ran away last August from his owner, a traveling nurse who works near the area. After Russ bolted, his owner filed a report with animal services authorities and hung fliers. None of it brought his dog back.
Then the Caldor Fire, which would burn 222,000 acres and destroy more than 1,000 structures over 67 days starting in mid-August, prompted mandatory evacuations and forced Russ’s owner to flee the Tahoe area. His job keep him away and figured he’d never see his dog again.
“It was assumed that Russ had been lost for good,” according to a post on the Tahoe PAWS Facebook page.
Then came Dec. 16 and the rescue mission started in the search for Russ. “We knew time was [of] the essence, because the dog had been out in the snow all day. And we knew how cold it was. So it was pretty intense, pretty emotional, a lot of adrenaline,” says Jones.
After they found Russ, they established a rapport with the dog and put the dog on the sled, covered with a blanket, and started a rough two-hour trip.
They returned and gave Russ to animal services officials, who took him to a veterinarian to make sure he was healthy. Over the next several days, officials found a microchip in Russ, allowing them to find his owner in Riverside County, Calif.
Jones said she wasn’t surprised Russ survived four months in the unforgiving wilderness of the Sierra Nevada. Dogs are strong and go into survival mode, finding shelter, food, and water, when they have to.
