Mile-high miracle
Rescuers fight for dog left to die at 13,000 feet
A DENVER couple is engaged in a custody battle with the former owner of an injured and hungry German shepherd the couple found abandoned atop a local climbing spot.
After organizing a rescue effort with fellow climbers, the two learned that the owner of the dog, Missy, stepped forward to claim the pet he had ad left for dead atop the moun- ntain.
Scott and Amanda da Washburn found Missy ma- arooned on a pile of bloody dy rocks atop the 13,000-foot- thigh Sawtooth Ridge in Colo- orado on Aug. 11.
They bandaged Missy’s y’s wounds and gave her food and water, but her injuries prevented her from walking down the mountain.
And at more than 100 pounds, she was too big to carry.
The Washburns returned home to post a picture of Missy on 14ers.com, a social networking site for mountain climbers, requesting help saving Missy.
The appeal garnered an overwhelming number of responses. Soon after, eight volunteers battled blizzard conditions during a nine-hour rescue mission to retrieve the stranded dog, according to Animal Help Now. Miraculously, a vet found Missy had no long-term injuries.
Enter Missy’s owner, Anthony Ortolani, 29. He explained that he left her behind on Aug. 5 ahead of an incoming storm because he feared for his safety, the Daily Mail said. “I am ashamed that it wasn’t me who got her off of the mountain, I underestimated the good will and resolve of the hiking community of Colorado, and I am eter- nally grateful,” Ortolani wrote on a 14ers.com message board.
The Washburns, however, don’t think Ortolani is fit to care for Missy, and hope to adopt her themselves.
“We understand that he had to leave her there,” Scott Washburn said.
“My wife and I did the same thing. But we ended up going back for her, and we went to some pretty extreme lengths to do so. In my opinion, that is not a responsible dog owner who doesn’t really care about her.”
Missy now resides in limbo with the local sheriff’s office as it decides whether to charge Ortolani with animal cruelty, reports ABC News.