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HACKLEBURG, Ala. — A 10-year-old boy with Down syndrome who spent 18 hours lost in the woods this week was kept warm overnight by a litter of puppies, officials say.
Kyle Camp went missing Wednesday evening around 4:30 p.m. An estimated 150 volunteers eventually turned up to help search for the boy, who has Down syndrome.
Police set up a perimeter a mile and a half from the boy's home, and volunteers searched overnight. They finally saw hope when a volunteer who was a stranger to the family noticed at about 9:30 a.m. on Thursday that his dog had run downstream, barking back and forth with his puppies.
"I heard the dogs barking again and followed him down there and started hollering for the puppies and I hollered for him and he hollered back," Jamie Swinney told WAFF. "He was in the creek about a half a mile over the ridge."
Police said they believed the puppies had kept Camp warm overnight. The boy was found wet and with no shoes, but had no major injuries. He was treated at a local hospital for scrapes and bruises and went home with his parents.
"It was amazing how many people came together to look, because we couldn't have gotten it all on our own," Camp's brother, Chris Bailey, told the gathering of volunteers, according to WBRC. "It's just amazing the community is that close to each other."
