After her partner and their golden retriever went on a hunting and scavenging trip in the wild that they failed to return from, a Canadian woman has been reunited with her dog after over 50 days of searching.
Jim Barnes, 28, went into the wilderness of western Canada with his dog, Murphy, aiming to hunt grouse and collect firewood on Oct. 18. His partner, Micaela Sawyer, had been searching for the two for weeks before she finally obtained a photo of an emaciated dog found in the wilderness, covered in cuts and injuries.
Sawyer says the dog in the photo is in fact Murphy, the same dog Sawyer and Barnes have owned since he was a puppy.
"He is badly injured, with major swelling, puncture wounds (possibly from a dog or coyote), a broken front paw, and scabs all over," Sawyer wrote on Facebook, alongside an image of Murphy. "His behavior has changed too, from a quiet, independent dog to one who barks at every sound and howls when I leave the room."
"Finding Murphy alive gives us hope that we might finally get answers about what happened to Jim," Sawyer continued.
Barnes continues to be missing in the wilderness as officials and search and rescue teams struggle to piece together what happened to him.
Barnes' phone pinged on a forest service road south of the town the day after he went missing, prompting Sawyer and others to begin searching the area for him to no avail. His grey pickup truck was later found left on the side of the road with the door open, containing all of his belongings.
"It's a busy area where he went missing. There's lots of hunting, community cattle pastures and foragers for chaga [mushrooms]. It's just strange," said Shona Murray, a paramedic who organized a volunteer search
"He would have been better oriented to the area than most and then he just vanished," Murray said. "Search teams commented many times on how odd it was that he vanished without a trace."
The return of Murphy has given officials and loved ones some hope that they may be able to uncover what happened to Barnes.
"It's been a heartbreaking journey, and while we wish Murphy could share his story, we fear we couldn't bear to hear it," wrote Sawyer. "He's such a sweet boy, and he didn't deserve any of this, nor did Jim."
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