A dog that went missing in the Mount Seymour region a month ago, sparking an overwhelming outpouring of support from locals, has been reunited with her owner.
It isn’t yet known how Callie, a tan pit bull terrier and German shepherd cross, survived for 28 days in the mountains, or how she was returned home. But according to social media posts, she is now alive and well and at home with owner Samantha Jung.
On Saturday afternoon Jung uploaded a photograph of herself and Callie to her Facebook page ‘Bring Callie girl home’ with the simple caption: “we brought Callie home.”
As of Sunday morning, the post had already received over a thousand likes. It had been shared over a hundred times, a testament to the ever-growing and ever-loyal group of people who were invested in Callie’s safe and speedy return.
Jung’s four-legged best friend had disappeared from the parking lot of the Mt Seymour ski resort the morning of Jan. 29, and was last seen running down a steep and snowy embankment westwards down the mountain.
In the weeks that followed Jung stopped at nothing to bring her pet home: taking time off work to stay in temporary accommodation closer to the resort, going on extensive search trips long into the evening, searching via thermal drone with North Shore Rescue, and even chartering a helicopter.
Speaking to the North Shore News just two weeks after Callie’s disappearance, Jung said it had been “unbearably quiet and agonizing” without her two-and-a-half-year-old companion.
When her efforts proved fruitless, the community rallied around in support, raising over $4,500 via a GoFundMe page and taking to the trails in searches of their own.
On Sunday, Jung updated the page’s 750 followers with a second post, thanking them for their tireless efforts and informing them of her beloved pet’s status.
“Callie is going to be ok,” she wrote.
“She’s acting like nothing ever happened… And I’m in awe at the strength and will to survive she exhibited–considering the terrain I was exploring the day she was found to follow her tracks in the snow.”
“I can only imagine the things she’s seen and done to get back home.”
Jung said she will share more when she is ready, but for now the focus is on rest and recovery.
“Thank you everyone for helping to bring my best friend back,” she said.
Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
