Mollie survived a rollover crash due to an ice storm on Saturday, January 4, 2025 while traveling from Illinois to El Paso, Texas. The first responders who transported her family to the hospital saw Mollie run away, unsure if she was injured. She then sought shelter to survive the ice storm that night. The following day, Sunday, January 5, 2025, Blizzard Blair dumped the third-highest single-day snowfall total in history. Mollie survived Blair, which brought in a weather system with sub-zero overnight temperatures, reaching as low as -7 degrees Fahrenheit. The accident was initially reported to have been about 40 miles south of its actual location. All highways and state roads were closed for a couple of days. Once the roads were open and the mile marker of the accident was posted, it became clear that the accident was much closer than previously thought.
On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, Amy Kenney Coon from Topeka/Lawrence Dog Trappers headed out to search the area. Seeing a heat signature on the far end of a pasture, she hiked through knee-deep snow and deeper snow drifts looking for signs of a bedding area but had no luck in that area.
On Wednesday, January 8, 2025, we received a text from Amy asking if we could search the area with our drone. We immediately pulled up the FAA charts to check for controlled airspace and satellite images to make a plan to search the area and look for places Mollie could be resource hunting. It was only 17 degrees that day, just three degrees above the drone's minimum operating temperature. I visited with professional dog handler Julie Hoffman, who volunteered to make some lost dog flyers. I headed out to the area and canvassed the homes with the flyers to see if there were any sightings or information we could gather. I met some lovely people and was able to get an exact location of the accident from one of them. With the weather forecasted to be 23 degrees warmer the next day, we had a solid location to start from and a plan in place.
On Thursday, January 9, 2025, Amy began searching early in the morning. With the temperature rising, we planned to launch the drone around 1 PM. We were able to cover about a square mile of ground. When dogs are lost and go feral, they begin resource hunting for food, water, and shelter. If not pushed out of an area, they will often remain close to those resources. This area had several ponds, although frozen over, and lots of areas with good cover to shelter in. The snow from the blizzard made following track paths quite easy, and we identified areas of interest, especially some outbuildings that had heavy track patterns in and out of the building on a property where we knew there were no animals or livestock.
We suspended the drone searches and prepared to check these outbuildings. As we did, a message came in on one of Amy’s posts that they had seen Mollie in the opposite direction. We headed that way as there were a couple more properties I found interesting and wanted to check out while trying to obtain more solid details about when and where she was seen. We checked out a couple of properties and then received a message back with a precise location. It was an abandoned farm with a pond, multiple outbuildings, and an abandoned house. We started checking with the neighbors about the property and if they had seen anything. We were directed to the owner, who might not be very receptive to strangers. With a little good cop, good cop, we hoped he’d be receptive to one of us. We visited with him, and he was sure there was no dog on his property. After visiting for a while and hearing some interesting stories, he agreed to let us search the property and buildings.
To say it was an interesting property is an understatement. It was a little bit of American Pickers meets Hoarders, but really just an average farm. There was water and cat food left out for the barn cats. We found some paw prints we were certain were a dog, but they looked too small to be Mollie given the photos we had seen. Every barn was packed full. Fortunately, our go bags have flashlights as we needed them in the middle of the afternoon given the storms rolling in. All of the barns were open on both ends and had plenty of hiding room requiring extensive searches. As I headed to double-check a barn Amy had just left, she headed toward the house. Shortly after, I heard a yell that she spotted fresh blood in the snow. I headed her way, and we began to trace the track patterns. One was close to where the entrance went under the porch, which made a logical place for her to shelter. I crawled down and found the underneath of the porch full of empty feed bags. I could only see about halfway under the length of the porch. We moved along the porch to access the other end. While doing so, I was searching the porch with a flashlight. Although it was still afternoon, it was quite dark. As we were moving down the porch, my flashlight lit up the most still and quiet face looking through the back of a chair. It took my brain some time to process seeing her face, see her pink collars, and utter the words: "She’s here, she’s right here!" She was so quiet and so buried, Amy was standing three feet away and couldn’t see her. I handed her my slip lead, and as she moved forward and called her name, Mollie realized we were friends. Her tail started wagging, and she surrendered immediately. She didn’t run. She didn’t resist. She was done with this storm. She then led us right out of there. She was done and ready to be warm and comfortable.
We cleared a spot in the truck and got her into the warmth quickly. She was over the moon with excitement to have been rescued and showed us what a sweet and loving dog she is. We stopped by and let the property owner know we had found her and updated another neighbor as well. While trying to connect with the family, we made a plan to run to the nearest veterinarian office to see if they could possibly see her for a quick checkup. Auburn Animal Clinic took a moment to check her even though it was just before closing. We thank them for seeing her, and after hearing her story, they donated their services as well. Despite her trauma, she was given a clean bill of health. Her people remained in the hospital, and their family was in California and Illinois. I took this sweet girl home until we could come up with a plan for a reunion. This is a Velcro girl who was definitely confused and believed she had been abandoned once again. She stayed with me on Thursday and Friday night until a family member could drive from Illinois to pick her up. She knew the vehicle as it approached and was excited to see them.
At the time of this writing, Mollie is home in Illinois, although her people remain in our local hospital and will be recovering from their injuries in a rehab hospital. They have a long road to recovery. We still can’t believe we found her. It was sheer luck and some serious pet detective work. Being back on this abandoned property, she could have gone without being discovered for a long time. She is a very sweet and lucky girl.
So why do we do this? For all the Mollies of the world. When you save your first Mollie, you will want All Paws Reunited, and the rest is Pawstory.
About Us: All Paws Reunited is a 501 (c)(3) charity dedicated to raising funds for free microchip events and volunteers searching for lost pets. We aim to reunite pets with their families and avoid admission to a shelter whenever preventable.
To Support Our Mission: Please head over to the donate page to make a tax deductible donation. All donations welcome and appreciated. As little as the amount of a cup of coffee can pay for a microchip to prevent a lost pet.
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