Dog survives five weeks in desert hole

[Kadie]

Dog survives five weeks in desert hole

The Associated Press
Last Updated: May 19, 2004, 01:30:20 AM PDT

TEMECULA, Calif. (AP) - A family who left their dog for dead after a desert hiking accident five weeks ago has been reunited with the pooch after a Riverside County hiker and his brother heard it barking and pulled it from a 30-foot-deep pit.

Stephen Schwartz, 17, was hiking with his brother, father and two cousins on April 18 near the ghost town of Panamint City on the western edge of Death Valley National Park when their dog, Shadow, fell into the pit.

The Schwartzs heard 10-year-old Shadow whimpering and tried to use an aluminum ladder from a nearby ranger station to reach the dog. But the ladder fell out of reach and eventually, Shadow stopped responding to their calls.

Thinking the dog was dead, the Schwartzs placed an improvised wooden cross over the pit, said a prayer and returned home to Trona, a tiny town in far northern San Bernardino County.

more... http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/8591853p-9459390c.html

[WillParkinson]

1. If it were my dog...

I wouldn't leave without the body.

[Kadie]

2. Me too.

That was my first thought reading the story. I am just glad that someone came along and found the dog. Too bad the owners didn't think of looking for something like that hose to help rescue him.

[madmax]

3. Me either

I couldn't bear to leave him so far from home. :cry:

[pintobean]

4. The headline

led me to think it was a story about Saddam.