A dog was credited with leading searchers to his owner — a woman missing in the Sierra Nevada foothills — but he disappeared after her rescue.
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Poncho, a Chihuahua mix, had been with the woman when she apparently walked away from a senior residence in Sonora over the weekend, the Tuolumne County sheriff’s office said.
The 85-year-old woman, who has dementia, was seen by staff there around 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, and possibly the following morning around 9:30 or 10, the sheriff’s office said.
She was in the habit of going for walks with her dog, but employees became concerned by her absence later that morning and reported her missing. The search extended into Sunday night.
Around 9 p.m., as search organizers were preparing to suspend operations until the next day, residents reported seeing a dog who matched Poncho’s description on a road that winds through chaparral on the flanks of Bald Mountain. The area is a little more than a mile’s walk from the senior home.
The searchers went about 70 feet down a steep hillside where the dog had last been seen. They found Poncho — and, a short distance away, his owner asleep on the ground. A litter and rope system were used to bring her up to the roadway, where an ambulance was waiting.
A Bald Mountain Road resident who watched the rescue told the news site MyMotherLode.com that the dog ran out of the ravine to join his owner at the ambulance. The sheriff’s office, however, said, “Poncho ran off before he could be safely secured,” and he remained missing as of Monday.
The sheriff’s report said the missing woman was alert and communicating with emergency responders before being taken for medical assessment. Bald Mountain Road neighbors were keeping an eye out for the dog.