Dog Rescued From Missouri Cave 2 Months After She Went Missing

PERRY COUNTY, MO — An elderly dog is finally home safe after she went missing for nearly two months and was eventually found trapped in a dark cave in rural Missouri.

Abby, age 13, disappeared from her home in Perry County on June 9, and was found Aug. 6 in Berome Moore, Missouri’s second-largest cave, according to USA Today.

“She was just lying there curled up in a ball,” caver Gerry Keene told the Associated Press. "She lifted her head and looked at us but she didn’t respond to verbal commands. She looked like she was pretty close to being done.”

Keene and caver Rick Haley worked together to help Abby make the 500-foot journey to safety, Haley said in a Facebook post. They placed her in a duffel bag with her head sticking out to make the tight, vertical climb, he said, adding that Abby was “totally cooperative” and “happy to be out.”

Abby’s owner, Jeff Bohnert, lives so close to the cave he can see it from his home and believes she may have fallen into a sinkhole or hidden entrance, according to the Associated Press, which noted pawprints in the cave indicate she tried to escape. Abby left the cave underweight and unable to speak, likely due to barking so long for help, but has begun to regain both the pounds and voice she lost, and is wagging her tail again, Bohnert told the Associated Press.