‘A Christmas miracle’; North Vancouver dog missing for 15 days found on Grouse Mountain

More than two weeks after their dog ran away from home, a North Vancouver couple finally welcomed her home after she was rescued from the top of Grouse Mountain.

Just a few blocks away from Bianca Camacho’s and her partner’s home in Lower Lonsdale, their dog ran away on the evening of Nov. 29.

With the extreme weather hitting Southern B.C. Camacho says, “Obviously, our hearts were torn.”

“Not having her here at home and not knowing where she was — that was probably one of the most difficult things we ever had to endure in our lives.”

While Camacho and her partner did the best they could scouring their neighbourhood for any glimpse of her friends urged the pair to get the word out online.

“We posted updates on Facebook and I posted on my social media,” she explained.

The two also hired pet searchers.

“We just we tried to spread the word as much as we could.”

Camacho and her partner both being from other parts of the province, she says the response online from locals in B.C. was overwhelmingly helpful and completely unexpected.

“The community was absolutely fantastic in North Vancouver — honestly, I’ve never been part of a community like this.”

Thanks to the widespread tips, Luna was finally found.

Camacho received a text of the good news, telling her a staff member found Luna at the top of Grouse Mountain.

“I just started crying. I cried, my hands were shaking … I was so nervous and so excited that they found her. I quickly then grabbed the phone and called my partner to let him know, someone found her and they actually caught her,” she explains.

15 days after she ran away from the Lower Lonsdale area, Luna the lost dog was rescued off Grouse Mountain this morning. A staff member found her hiding, was able to lure her out with a samosa & helped reunite the pup with her relieved owners. More @CityNewsVAN @grousemountain pic.twitter.com/vedyLLiExI

— Tarnjit Kaur Parmar (@Tarnjitkparmar) December 15, 2021

Luna is a rescue from South Korea and Camacho has been giving her a home for five months now. Since she’s been welcomed into the B.C. couple’s home, she’s been shy and a little nervous. This is why Camacho thinks the pup was found in a hidden spot.

According to the Grouse Mountain, a team member followed a trail of paw prints in the snow Tuesday morning which lead them under the load platform of the Olympic Express Chairlift.

“Our team recognized Luna from the posts circulating on social media. Gordon McNaughton, one of our team members, was able to crawl under the platform to reach her,” a statement reads.

Camacho adds crews told her a member even had lure Luna in with a samosa, put a bungee cord around her collar, provided her a sweater to keep her warm, and safely bring her down the mountain using the Skyride to reunite with her owners.

“Honestly, this is the best gift I could have ever gotten for Christmas,” Camacho says. “We prayed and we wished and we hoped so hard that we get a Christmas miracle like they have in the movies and we got our own real-life Christmas miracle. She’s already relaxing on her little bed by the fireplace, and she is extremely exhausted. We are going to spend every single moment we can with her. Honestly, just spoil her with love.”

What a journey! Luna, a 3 year old Jindo, went missing from Lower Lonsdale on November 29th and was rescued by our operations team on the mountaintop this morning.

Thanks to our amazing team, we were able to reunite Luna with her owners, Bianca and Kyle this morning pic.twitter.com/BLrcYjsMeQ

— Grouse Mountain (@grousemountain) December 14, 2021

Luna is walking well, but Camacho says she’s noticed her nails may be broken and are bleeding. She seems to have lost weight, and Camacho says, “When we got her as a rescue this summer she was essentially in in bones. And that’s kind of how she looks right now, unfortunately, obviously not having proper food or nutrition.”

Luna will be visiting the vet this week but so far, “she’s been looking good. She’s been eating and drinking slowly. So I think she’s good. She’s just tired.”

Camacho adds she is thankful to be part of the North Vancouver community.

“They have never met my dog and they treated this like it was their own and I have never ever seen that before in my life. So it was so great to have that support and on the days where I really felt just hopeless.”

– With files from Tarnjit Parmar