June 2019 Newsletter

Joe Dunn lives in Pasco County, western Florida. Dunn is an avid hiker and explorer. He spends as much time as he can exploring the trails and forests through central Florida. He has a website called FloridaTrailBlazer.com and documents his adventures. In early June, he was exploring the Withlacoochee State Forest, about an hour north of Tampa. He'd hiked into the park for several miles, and as it got later in the day, he was thinking about heading back out to his car. But that's when he heard a dog barking and whimpering. Miles away from any homes, he knew the dog must be in some sort of trouble. Moments later, he was shocked to find the dog- at the bottom of a 20-foot deep hole.

 

The more he looked down the hole at the dog looking up at him, the more he realized how difficult it was going to be to get her out. He considered everything he had with him and racked his brain for a solution. He looked around for any natural objects that could be useful. He found an old log and was able to drag it to the hole. He lowered one end down into the hole. The dog checked out the log, but it was way too steep to be of any use. Dunn knew that he could probably get himself down to the dog, but then that may only accomplish getting him trapped as well. He checked his phone. It was not only getting late but he wasn't getting any reception. And it looked like it was going to start raining. He began to realize that he would have to leave the poor pup alone for another night. He dropped all of the food he had down into the pit and told her he'd be back to get her out.

 

That night, he posted his story on social media along with his plans to go back in the morning and rescue the trapped dog from the hole. Soon, five more good samaritans, some friends, some strangers, had signed on to help. Among them were employees of Rhino Staging, who happened to be experts in rigging and climbing.

 

Early the next morning, they all met up and hiked in the 4 miles to the cave, following the coordinates Dunn had noted. As they got closer to the cave, they were relieved to hear barking; the dog had survived another night. And this time they were ready.

They noted that she was wearing a pet tag on her collar. It had her name, Sally, and a phone number. When they were able to contact her owners, they found that Sally had been missing for 3 weeks. Sally's family was in disbelief about her misadventure and the story of her rescue.

Luckily, Dunn documented much of the story, including the rescue. You can read the story and find links to the videos on the News Channel 8 site.

 

Amid all the destruction, disruption, and displaced people, it wouldn't be surprising if the plight of a small, white, likely stray, cat went unnoticed. But it didn't.

 

Near the tiny town of Moffett, Oklahoma is the Fort Smith Stockyard, a large complex of barns and open buildings where cattle are taken to auction. Less than a half mile from the Arkansas River, the yards were flooded with several feet of water soon after the river began to swell.

 

Several days later, someone noticed a small white cat on the roof of one of the buildings at the stockyard. Alone and trapped on an island of tin and tar paper.  One picture posted on social media sparked a fire. Soon there was a campaign with the hashtag #savemoffettkitty.  Among all that was lost and all that was still needing to be done, this one small act of compassion seemed doable, a symbolic gesture that people could rally behind.

 

Among those leading the way was the team from KFSM News, the CBS affiliate in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The cat had been on the roof for nearly a week so the immediate mission was to get some food and fresh water up to the stranded cat.  The station owns a drone called Sky5 that they had been using extensively to survey the flood.  It seemed like an obvious idea to use the drone to drop off some supplies on the roof.  But it wasn't quite that easy; the drone was designed to carry its camera and not much else.  It was strong enough to carry a load but had no way to drop it on command.  Some creative engineering was needed.

 

Enter the team from Univerisity of Arkansas-Fort Smith. KFSM's chief meteorologist Garrett Lewis contacted them to see if they could devise a way to use the drone as a delivery vehicle.  They were up to the challenge and quickly devised a solution.  Some quick testing proved that it would work.  They got permission from the FAA to fly the modified drone and soon were on their way over the river to the Oklahoma side. It all worked as planned and the cat could be seen devouring the food.

 

Lewis' sentiment at the end of his report sums up this story well:

 

"As the waters recede it might look overwhelming. But remember you don’t have to do everything for everyone… just do something for someone… or this case… some cat".

 

See the news story on the 5NewOnline website.

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