A boxer dog named Jade managed to survive nearly two months in the Wyoming wilderness all by herself. According to a June 4th Facebook post from one of Jade’s owners, some loud road noises spooked the dog and she ran away into Little Buffalo Basin. Jade’s humans (and their entire community) then leapt into action to try to find the missing pet, but it would be weeks before they brought her home.
The owners, Tim Paul and Laura Wilderman, with the help of new friends who saw the couple’s lost-dog posters around town, tried searching for Jade using many different methods. Paul spent the night in his truck at the spot where Jade initially ran off; with the help of a Good Samaritan drone owner, they looked for Jade with a drone; and they even hired search dogs to try to track Jade’s scent.
In fact, according to the Washington Post, the couple searched for Jade in the woods every day she was gone, which was around seven weeks. Wilderman even took a leave from her job to do this. However, the couple’s search efforts plus radio ads, social media posts, and a $1,500 reward still didn’t bring Jade home, and the chances that the dog had survived so much time in the wild were starting to dwindle.
“This area in Wyoming is just deep, deep woods. There isn’t anything around,” Wilderman told the Washington Post. The area is also home to large predators like mountain lions, grizzly bears, and coyotes that Jade would need to fend off.
“We didn’t think we would get her back,” Wilderman said.
A Twist of Fate
Finally, last week, Wilderman and Paul got some good news. Someone spotted Jade on a trail camera eating an animal carcass. The trail-cam owner then saw Jade in person a few days later and recognized her from the posters in town. He called the owners with good news: Jade was alive.
Wilderman and Paul set up a trap in the area, and it worked. They caught Jade in the trap looking “disheveled and slightly frail.” Although she picked up worms during her long survival adventure in the Wyoming woods, Jade was remarkably healthy.
Wilderman called her dog’s return “a miracle.”
We agree. Way to go, Jade!