Missing Missouri Dog Found Alive In Cave After Two Months
Abby’s owner Jeff Bohnert had pretty much given up on ever seeing his poodle-hound mix dog after she went missing in June. However, two months later, hikers exploring a nearby cave found a dog. After the dog had been living in a dark cave all that time she had almost lost half her weight. However, Abby recovering from her ordeal and is almost back to her old self.
Missing dog found alive in Missouri cave
The news came out on Monday that Jeff Bohnert’s poodle-hound mix dog Abby had been found after being missing for two months. When he received a text from a neighbor that a dog had been found in the cave, he doubted this could be Abby.
However, he was curious and visited the cave, close to his rural Missouri home. Bohnert then saw a photo one of the dog rescuers had taken and it was Abby. Speaking to AP News on Monday, he said it was his dog.
— Anne Sewell (@anners2008) August 17, 2022
What makes the story even more amazing is that Abby is just weeks away from turning 14. However, despite her age, she somehow managed to survive in the cave for almost 60 days. She spent those days in a dark and barren 58-degree Fahrenheit cave. It seems she kept alive by using her own body fat and was half her weight when rescued.
How it happened
It turns out that besides Abby, the Bohnerts have another dog, Summer, and the pair do everything together, including misbehaving. Bohnert recalls that the two dogs ran away from home on June 9. To the family, this was no big deal as they live in a rural area near Perryville in eastern Missouri. He said both dogs would have fun running in the fields, maybe chasing something and then would usually head back home.
However, when Jeff awoke the next morning, Summer had returned, but there was no sign of Abby. As they never separate, Bohnert figured something bad had happened. He said because she is old, she could have been overcome by the heat.
He posted about his missing dog on Facebook and also contacted the police and reached out to neighbors. However, no one had seen Abby.
Rescuers find missing dog
After two months of being missing, Abby was found on August 6 by Gerry Keene, five other adults and five children. The group had entered Berome Moore Cave, looking forward to a day of exploring. Meanwhile, one of the kids ran ahead and spotted a dog. He yelled to his dad, saying, “There’s a dog in here.” Keen said the kid’s dad doubted it, saying, “No, there’s not.” But it turned out there was indeed a dog, lying curled in a ball.
Keene added that the dog lifted her head and looked at them, but didn’t respond to verbal commands. In fact, he added, “She looked like she was pretty close to being done.”
Keene then asked another caver, Rick Haley, to help him as they knew Abby couldn’t manage the around 500-foot walk to the entrance. In fact, this was especially so as they would pass through tight passageways and up a steep incline.
Haley and Keene organize the rescue
It turns out Haley had been trained in cave rescues and went back to his truck to get a duffel bag and a blanket. Once back with the dog, she immediately snuggled in the warm blanket after spending weeks lying in the cold mud.
Due to her age and fragility, it was important that they handled Abby carefully. Haley said they would carry her for a short distance, then set her down, then move in front of her and pick her up again. He explained it was a “kind of leap-frog kind of thing.”
Looking for Abby’s owner
After rescuing Abby, Keene visited some of the homes in the area to find out if anyone had lost a dog. One neighbor got in touch with Bohnert, as he lives close enough to the cave to see it from his home.
Bohnert doubted it could be Abby as he believed a 13-year-old dog couldn’t have survived such an experience. However, to his amazement, it was, indeed, Abby. Around an hour-and-a-half from being spotted, Abby was out of the cave and one rescuer gave her a piece of beef. Keene said she almost bit his finger off, but almost immediately, she started to perk up.
How could this have happened?
According to Bohnert, he believes Abby could have ended up in the cave after falling into a sinkhole or hidden entrance. According to Haley, there were paw prints everywhere in the cave, which showed that she did try to find her way out. Both men believe that after she failed to find her way out, she just hunkered down and was able to live off her own body fat. Bohnert said:
I think she was just in a preservation mode.
According to her owner, Abby normally weighs around 50 pounds, but he believes she lost half of her body weight in the cave. Meanwhile, since she was rescued, she has already regained her weight.
Moreover, she has even started to get her voice back after she likely lost it barking for help. According to Bohnert, she has started wagging her tail again as she puts the trauma behind her. He added:
It’s amazing how she’s springing back already. She’s acting like herself again.
Hopefully, Abby won’t go wandering off on her own again in the future.
