Luna the dog has been rescued! ( to)) Outside associate editor Ella Cobb interviewed the rescuers who are trying to locate and save Luna the Jack Russell Terrier. Cobb also spoke to an expert with the breed to understand how Luna’s innate senses are helping her survive. One of the most improbable survival stories in recent memory has a happy ending.
On Wednesday, October 14, officials in Yellowstone National Park successfully rescued a Jack Russell Terrier from California named Luna who had been missing in the park for more than a month. Details about how Luna was captured and her condition were not immediately available. For the last month, Boucher and others have been tracking Luna in the park.
The ten-year-old Jack Russell Terrier went missing on September 10 after she bolted from the cabin where her family was staying. According to SFGATE, Luna escaped the cabin after a housekeeper opened the cabin door. Since then, Luna has stayed alive in the park, and multiple people have seen her near lodges and cabins in the park.
Boucher told Outside that an eyewitness spotted her on October 13, and that the dog appeared healthy and without any injuries. Boucher said that her agency’s mission to rescue Luna required more effort than simply leaving out a bowl of kibble and hoping for the best. The National Park Service granted Norris Ark special permission and a trapping permit for its recovery effort, while construction crews working inside Yellowstone have allowed the team into restricted areas that are normally closed to visitors and, in some cases, other workers.
Before she became a house dog, Luna spent roughly the first year of her life surviving on the streets of California before she was picked up by the SPCA, according to Boucher. Boucher believes some of the survival skills Luna developed as a stray have resurfaced in Yellowstone. Luna knows how to hide, find food and keep herself away from things she perceives as dangerous.
Luna survived for weeks in a landscape full of cold nights, scarce food and predators, and has repeatedly turned up around buildings and parking lots. Alison Cook Cilliers, a longtime breeder who runs Kimberlite Jack Russell Terriers in California, said that Luna’s survival story is indicative of the breed’s traits. Without a person there to give directions, the dogs had to figure things out on their own.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
