Meet Sage, an elderly blind Labrador who lost her eyesight due to glaucoma. Last month, the visually impaired pooch went missing for a whole week. The doggie’s owner, Beth Cole from Boulder Creek, California, said her family had gone to bed on February 24 when the 12-year-old canine disappeared. However, the doggie managed to return home – all thanks to this kind off-duty firefighter.
First, the Cole family asked everyone they knew to help find the missing dog, but to no avail. With every passing hour, they were closer to expecting the worst. They knew there were plenty of mountain lions in the area. “Our neighbors and other members of the community helped us search day and night for a week. We looked everywhere,” said Cole.
Luckily, off-duty firefighter Dan Estrada spotted her when hiking: “At first I thought it was a garbage bag in the water… [She] was lying there lifeless in this stream – her chin just above water level.” He added: “When we saw she was alive, I jumped in the stream and hugged her.” Estrada said it was about to rain, so Sage probably wouldn’t have survived another night in the mountains.
Meet Sage, an elderly blind Labrador who went missing in the California Mountains for a week
The disappearance of the 12-year-old visually impaired doggie left the Cole family heartbroken
They were close to expecting the worst. There were mountain lions in the area
Then a week later this off-duty firefighter spotted her. “When we saw she was alive…”
“I jumped in the stream and hugged her.” He took the dog back to the owners
The rescuer added that Sage probably wouldn’t have survived another night in the mountains
“They were crying, they were happy,” Estrada said. “We were about halfway up the mountain, and I could see that they were all teary-eyed.”
The Cole family had been offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who found Sage, but Estrada refused to take it. Instead, he asked for the money to be donated to an animal rescue organization.
“Our family is so grateful to have Sage home!” Cole said. “Our small town has really pulled together around this happy ending made possible by our neighbor Dan.”
