A Border collie named Molly is back home after a harrowing rescue, a week after her owner was rescued herself. Their reunion was facilitated by the generosity of strangers who opened their hearts and wallets to bring them back together again.
Jessca Johnson had been hiking on New Zealand’s South Island. She and her dog Molly went down an area where the dog did not want to go. The New York Times said there was thick brush, a steep slope and a waterfall. Despite Molly hesitating, Johnson kept going, but in a moment, she was gone, The New York Times reported.
Johnson fell from the cliff’s edge, plummeting about 180 feet to the waterfall’s base, floating 65 feet downstream before being able to get out of the water. She was rescued thanks to her personal locator beacon and had cuts and scrapes but no broken bones.
Molly, however, could not be found when Johnston was rescued.
Helicopter pilot Lilly Newton heard about Johnston’s fall and that Molly was left behind, so she was trying to figure out how to help, The New York Times reported.
Newton and her father, Matt Newton, flew over the site a few times but couldn’t find the missing dog.
Each flight costs about $1,370, so there was only so much the family-owned business could afford. Lilly Newton went to Facebook to ask for financial help to continue the search, according to the Times.
In a single day, 160 people donated about $6,600 to keep the chopper in the air and continue the search. The amount needed was raised in about three hours, CNN reported.
Others also called her to volunteer.
One woman, Georgiana Du Val, a vet nurse and owner of Independent Thermal Imaging, brought a thermal camera, which was key to finding Molly, The Washington Post reported. A helicopter crewman, Wayne Holmes, with Land Search and Rescue, came to help, and he brought his terrier, Bingo, hoping that Molly would respond to another dog.
On March 31, Matt Newton took up the other two people in the helicopter while his daughter coordinated from the ground. Within 30 minutes, Molly was found near the base of the waterfall where Johnston had fallen.
“When we could see that it was her, we were all crying,” Du Val said.
The elder Newton hovered the helicopter over a rock slab and the crewman jumped out with Bingo, walked over to Molly and gave her a treat, then picked up the soaked and shivering dog and got back into the helicopter.
Matt Newton called his daughter, saying, “We have found Molly.”
About an hour after landing, Molly and Johnston were reunited.
“She was all over her, wagging her tail,” Lilly Newton said. “It was beautiful to see. It all paid off.”
“She’s been (through) a bloody rough week. But with both of us back home I can add this adventure to the list,” Johnston wrote on Facebook, according to CNN. “Still a great trip before our lives got turned upside (down).”
Molly was checked out by a vet and was found to be uninjured.
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