Hanna Poscente took this selfie moments after she discovered Mia, whom she’d been trying to find for weeks.
Courtesy of Hanna Poscente
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Courtesy of Hanna Poscente
Hanna Poscente took this selfie moments after she discovered Mia, whom she’d been trying to find for weeks.
Courtesy of Hanna Poscente
For greater than a month, numerous animal lovers throughout a rugged swath of western Colorado have been gripped by the identical query: The place is Mia?
The shy, 8-year-old rescue canine, with brown spots and floppy ears, was misplaced within the winter chilly.
Her proprietor, Charles Reigies, remembers the second she disappeared, the day after Christmas. He and his girlfriend, Hanna Poscente, have been driving again residence to Grand Junction on Interstate 70 in one of many first storms of the season. Reigies hit a patch of black ice, they usually went swerving. The Jeep crashed onto its aspect.
“And the time I got here to, she was harm and the canine was gone,” he stated.
It was darkish out, they usually have been miles from any city, about two hours from residence. An ambulance rushed Poscente to a hospital with a damaged neck. As Reigies waited for a tow truck, he stored trying to find Mia within the snow.
However there have been no indicators of her.
The subsequent day, Poscente, now residence, reactivated her Fb account simply to publish about Mia. To search for assist. She joined teams devoted to misplaced and located pets throughout the area. Days handed. The posts have been preferred and shared. Strangers in small cities separated by miles of frozen desert, mountains and canyons stored trying to find Mia and posting day by day updates on-line.
“They have been like their very own little village in search of Mia, a canine that they had by no means met earlier than,” Poscente stated.
And if that village had a mayor, it might be Janet Cross, who lives about 20 minutes from the crash web site. She had heard that pets will maintain returning to the place they’ve misplaced their individuals. So, 10 days after the crash, she arrange a path digital camera on the web site. She might see that Mia was nonetheless coming again twice a day.
“She’s trying on the spot. She’s in search of her household. She’s trying skinny,” Cross stated. “So yeah, it was fairly heartbreaking.”
It was additionally hopeful. Mia was alive.
Over the following couple of weeks, individuals referred to as and messaged with Mia sightings. And Charles and Hanna got here again to test the crash web site as typically as they may. There have been a number of close to misses. One afternoon, they left at 5. The digital camera recorded Mia at 7.
“You would inform she was like, ‘Wait, I odor them,'” Poscente stated, smiling.
The actual fact they reside two hours away from their crash web site simply made every little thing tougher. Reigies, who discovered Mia at an animal shelter in 2018, stored grieving her time and again.
“Simply any day we got here again empty handed, it was horrible,” he stated.
In the meantime, Mia’s story was nonetheless being shared regularly on Fb. And animal management had given Cross a lure, which the company required her to test each hour. So she did that, parking at a close-by fuel station between checks.
Discovering Mia mainly turned her full-time job.
“However I simply could not hand over,” Cross stated. “I simply could not hand over on her.”
Mia’s proprietor, Charles Reigies, and his girlfriend, Hanna Poscente.
Stina Sieg/CPR Information
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Stina Sieg/CPR Information
Mia’s proprietor, Charles Reigies, and his girlfriend, Hanna Poscente.
Stina Sieg/CPR Information
Then issues bought extra dire. A deer fence the automotive crash had destroyed was rebuilt, and lots of of Mia’s on-line followers nervous she was trapped behind it. There have been no Mia sightings for eight days.
Lastly, Poscente acquired a fateful name from a girl.
“I am taking a look at your canine,” she remembers her saying.
Mia was about 10 miles from the place the couple had crashed. A buddy drove Poscente, nonetheless in a neck brace, to the realm.
That first night time, Mia bought scared off. However they stayed at a close-by resort, and the following morning, Poscente determined to attempt yet one more time. Her buddy left to take a gathering by cellphone, and Poscente began strolling down the prepare tracks as snow fell. She seemed up and to her left, and there Mia was, utterly camouflaged within the snow and sagebrush.
Mia did not get scared. She did not run off. She yawned and began strolling towards Poscente, who filmed the second together with her cellular phone.
“Hello, child, hello!” Poscente says within the video, her voice hoarse with emotion as Mia ambles nearer. “Oh my God.”
Then the video cuts off, as a result of Mia began leaping throughout her. After they bought residence, Mia knocked Reigies off his toes.
“And as quickly as I noticed her in there, it was over,” he stated. “It was simply tears galore.
Mia’s ribs have been displaying, and her quick white fur was soiled, however in any other case she was the identical: somewhat goofy and fairly quiet — until she’s consuming. And she or he has completed numerous consuming since she bought again.
“She’s only a actual candy pup,” Reigies stated, patting her on her abdomen.
Due to the assistance of many individuals, Mia made it residence — after one month and someday.
