Hiker saves puppy from the abandoned coal well after a frigid weekly search in Pennsylvania

Pottsville, Pa. (AP) – A walker in Pennsylvania had followed his dog this week from a mountain path when he looked down at a deep coal pit and saw a tail moving near a stack of rocks.

Collin Leiby, an enthusiastic walker and wedding photographer, closed his eyes with the animal and knew that it was Freddy, a 6-month-old Golden Retriever whose disappearance had fueled a week-long search in Pottsville, a community in the historic coal country of East-East-Pennsylvania. Leiby had been alert for the missing dog and eventually found him on Sharp Mountain on Monday, about 10 feet (3 meters) away the coal well, too tired to find his way.

“A tear came in my eyes,” said Leiby, 33, who lives a few blocks of the dog’s house. “I started calling his name. He got up slowly and started walking towards us. ‘

Freddy made it halfway the icy side wall while Leiby reached down and grabbed him. He gave him water, cut a free belt to him and walked Freddy off the mountain with his dog, a pit bull mix called Bass.

“He cried and jumped on me,” said Leiby. “He said,” Get me home. “

Pam and Joe Palko had taken everything away since Freddy was missing on 17 February. They went to social media. They chased tips. They organized a posse of volunteers to spread flyers in schools, churches and in the city in Pottsville. They even hired a company that uses search dogs to follow missing pets, and another that flew thermal drones overhead.

That helped to rule a few places. But there was still no sign of the 6-month old puppy when the week wore and the temperatures in the single digits fell in with snow-covered Schuylkill County.

“It was overly cold,” said Pam Palko, a financial planner and mother of three. “We knew we would never give up, but the more that time went on all week, our hope became smaller.”

They chased one of the many false alarms in a nearby animal shelter just before twilight on Monday when Joe Palko received a warning of their home security camera. A stranger was at the door with Freddy. Then their neighbor called. They ran home.

“He was just a bit hectic, hungry and confused,” said the neighbor, Dr. Carolyn Canizaro-Orlowsky, a retired veterinarian. “When they showed up, he started wiggling.”

The Palkos, whose children are 17, 20 and 22 were especially warm after losing a beloved 4-year-old dog to cancer last year. They had not only become Freddy for themselves, but to give their other Golden Retriever, 2-year-old Harper, a new companion.

Freddy, who had weighed around 45 pounds (20 kilograms), lost at least 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of the test and is a bit worse for wear, but otherwise healthy. The Palkos are grateful for that, and for the community that took so much to reunite them.

“There is a large collective sigh of relief,” said Canizaro-Orlowsky. “It’s a nice lesson not to give up.”