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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park is known for its wildlife, including bears and wolves. But for six weeks, one animal that roamed the park didn't belong.
An Australian shepherd named Jade was found in the Canyon area Friday, 42 days after she went missing.
"She's skin and bones, but otherwise she seems perfectly fine," owner David Sowers of Denver said.
Sowers said Jade ran off July 23 after an auto wreck on July 23 while he and his girlfriend, Laura Gillice, were driving through the park with the dog.
"When they tried to get her out of the car she bolted and she ran into the woods," Sowers said. "She disappeared for, like, 15 days, and I thought she was gone."
Over the last several weeks, signs were posted and an Internet campaign started asking park visitors to keep an eye out for the dog. Traps with dog food were even set.
Reports of Jade being seen roaming the park started coming in. Sowers and his girlfriend, who were both injured in the wreck, had returned to Yellowstone several times to look for the dog before finding her Friday.
"I haven't been following doctors' orders very well," said Sowers, who suffered injuries to his ribs, arm and leg in the accident. "They told me not to be doing this, but I wanted to find my dog."
On Friday morning, Gillice was with their other dog when she saw something black and white across a meadow.
In less than a minute "she started running toward me," Gillice said.
Sowers said other than a small cut on her lip and losing weight, Jade is OK.
"It's a miracle," Gillice said.
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