Cavers Save Stranded Dog They Happened Upon 40 Feet Underground in 'Miracle' Rescue

The cavers, who all had cave rescue experience, got the dog out of the caverns by improvising rescue supplies with the equipment they had on hand

A dog that somehow ended up deep in a Virginia cave is lucky to be alive, and she has a group of caring cavers to thank.

Over the July 5 weekend, experienced cavers Dave Jackson and Jesse Rochette, from Colorado-based cave simulator company CaveSim, were exploring Giant Caverns in Giles County, Virginia, with a few others. When entering an area of the caverns about 40 to 50 feet deep, the group came upon a surprising sight—a dog wandering the cave dirty and alone.

“[The first member of our group that repelled down] said, ‘Whoa! There’s a dog down here!’" Rochette recalled to the Associated Press. "And I asked if it was alive, and he said, 'Yes!'”

Rochette told the outlet that he repelled down next with a piece of salami and noted that the canine “instantly came over” and “sucked” it up. They also provided some water and heat in the form of space blankets to the shivering dog, per the outlet.

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The caver pair told WDBJ-TV that the dog—whom they nicknamed Sparsy—had sustained injuries to her eye and leg. The men knew the canine needed to get out of the cave, so they began formulating a plan to do just that with the gear they already had on them.

“All of us have cave rescue experience. So we say, ‘we’re gonna get this dog out of this cave,’ ” Jackson told WDBJ-TV, though he added that none of them had ever rescued a dog from a cave before.

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Jackson told AP the group improvised, creating a dog harness from a tarp and webbing and a hauling system to rappel the dog up and out of the cave. The effort took about three hours and ended with the canine safely back on the surface.

“I laid her down onto the ground, and the moment that she touched the ground, the tongue came out,” Rochette told WDBJ-TV. “It was a very clear excitement that she knew she was out of that situation.”

The cavers told the outlets that after getting the dog out of the caverns, they put her in their car and transported her to the veterinary hospital at Virginia Maryland College for treatment.

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After she visited the vet, Sparsy moved to the Giles County Animal Shelter to recover. The shelter shared in a Facebook post on Wednesday, July 10, that she was “up and moving” despite some swelling in her spine, which they said was a "miracle."

“She takes her medicine like a champ and eats like there’s no tomorrow. Her medical expenses have been covered thanks to our amazing community,” Giles County Animal Shelter wrote on social media. “We still haven’t found her owner. If her healing keeps progressing this quickly, she’ll be ready for a new home in no time!”

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