A Minnesota family’s dog is being credited with helping protect and ultimately help authorities rescue a two-year-old boy who was lost for hours on Oct. 5.
The boy, who is described as being “adventurous” by his grandfather, had wandered into a neighbour’s cornfield with Bella Grace, an English springer spaniel, in tow. Bella Grace’s 12-week-old pup Madeline followed the boy as well.
His grandmother noticed the boy and the dogs missing at around 6:15 p.m. When family members couldn’t locate the trio after a half-hour search, authorities deployed a search crew of 200 people as darkness fell.
“The immediate thought is, ‘We’re going to find this boy,’” said Minnesota State Patrol Chief Pilot Lt. Craig Benz to CBS-affiliate WCCO.
Bloodhounds couldn’t find the boy, who was dressed only in a T-shirt and diaper, and concerns for the boy’s well-being increased as temperatures reached as low as 4 C.
“If you throw in any mist, any condensation, now you’ve got wet skin which just makes the body temperature drop and so it is an emergency situation,” said Benz.
According to Stearns County Sheriff’s Lt. Vic Weiss, searchers heard the dog barking at one point, but it stopped.
It was a helicopter equipped with an infrared sensor that eventually picked up the heat signal of the boy and the dogs, which had stayed close by him.
Video footage from the infrared camera shows Bella Grace circling around the boy but not straying too far.
Weiss told local newspaper The Star Tribune that the older dog’s movements helped lead searchers to the missing boy.
“The dog was in preservation and protection mode,” said Weiss.
By 9:20 p.m. the boy was rescued and returned to his family. He said that he was counting corn in the field before police found him.
Authorities say aside from being cold and hungry, the boy was uninjured.