Pet parents know how it’s like to lose an animal – it causes a lot of stress and anxiety. These innocent creatures can’t always fend for themselves. They oftentimes need our help and it takes a brave soul to do just that.
There is nothing more painful for someone who loses a pet. When your fur baby gets lost in the woods, you can only hope and pray that they find their way back home to you. This very story happened to Neesha, an 8-year-old Golden Retriever.
Neesha’s story could have ended in tragedy. Fortunately, fate was on her side when she went missing in Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains last January. She’s one blessed pup indeed because after spending the last two weeks all on her own, with no food and shelter, she was spotted by a couple. They saw her circumstance and braved the mountains as they traversed their way to her. It wasn’t an easy feat. The winds were howling and the cold weather would have been challenging for anyone.
This tragic story started out two weeks before. Neesha’s owners took her and Harley, a German Shepherd that they also owned, out for some exercise in the great outdoors. While the folks thought it would be a quiet and uneventful walk, the dogs were startled by a deer. The canines immediately ran off. Harley immediately realized that he had strayed a little too far and found his way back to the car. Neesha, on the other hand, got lost along the way.
Neesha’s family was worried. They couldn’t find her anywhere. They searched high and low but not a sight was seen. So, they left a laundry basket out in the place she took off, hoping that the scent would help her find her way back home. The effort was futile and the scent marker didn’t do anything. So, they resorted to drones and appealed for help on the internet. There was still no sign of their missing pup.
Erina O’Shea Goetelen, the pup’s mom, told The Irish Times, “We went on social media and posted it out. Then a weekend later, we were still looking for her, we were starting to give up hope.” Eventually, the they began to accept their fate. Neesha was never coming come. Erina states, “We just thought she was 8, it’s been two weeks, there was no way she could survive that.”
Then, something happened. Unexpected help came their way in Doctors Ciara Nolan and Jean Francois Bonnet. They were hikers who simply wanted another adventure. They braved the harsh elements Wicklow’s peaks and opted to climb up to the very summit. Like the pup parents, they thought nothing of it and just wanted a day outside. As they neared the top, Nolan saw a dog shivering, curled up next to rocks. She was taken over by pity. Bonnet said about what she encountered, “She was petrified, freezing cold. She didn’t have enough energy to bark or stand. We tried to get her to walk, she couldn’t stand. So we covered her in our spare clothes, we gave her some food.”
The hikers didn’t have the heart to leave Neesha all on her own. So, Nolan lifted Neesha onto Bonnet’s back and carried the extra weight trek back down the mountain. It was a good 10-kilometer trek down, but that didn’t matter. They were committed to saving the lost stray. It wasn’t easy because both dog and man fell several times. The icy conditions made the ground slipper, but Nolan found a way to strap Neesha to her partner’s backpack by using a scarf.
As soon as they all reached the bottom of the icy mountain, Nolan and Bonnet immediately brought Neesha to Ash Animal Rescue. After being stranded for two weeks, the dog had lost a great deal of weight. She was hungry and was dehydrated. She also had a few cuts and bruises on her, but overall, she was in good condition.
The admin from Ash Animal Rescue immediately posted on Facebook. “When Ciara rang us Saturday evening I got very excited when I realized they had found Neesha. When I saw the video clip I couldn’t help getting emotional. The weather had thrown all sorts at us in the past 2 weeks, for Neesha to have survived it all is a miracle,” it had said.
Neesha’s parents were ecstatic. They couldn’t believe that their dog survived the freezing mountains. O’Shea exclaimed, “We were so, so relieved and happy! We have no words to thank them both for what they did to bring her back home. They are just absolutely amazing and unbelievable. We just can’t thank them enough.”
Apparently, it’s not yet Neesha’s time to cross over the rainbow bridge just yet. She was meant to live the next several years with her family, surrounded by love. Thanks to the two determined rescuers and to the kind fates, Neesha enjoyed what they call the “luck of the Irish.”
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