Cat who survived 380-foot fall adopted by rescuer!
- Chris DeWeese, The Weather Channel
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
An elderly tabby cat who miraculously survived a nearly 400-foot fall in Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park that tragically took the lives of her owners has a new home … with the search-and-rescue helicopter pilot who rescued her.
The cat, who was named Mirage by the animal society that rehabilitated her after her fall, was reunited with Chelsea Tugaw, the helicopter pilot who flew her from the canyon floor to the helping arms of vets, in late May. Mirage was rescued on April 29 close to the bottom of Inspiration Point after she and her owners appeared to fall from a popular lookout spot.
Tugaw, who flies helicopters for the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Aero Bureau, said last week that the park rangers and local Sheriff’s deputies who first viewed the scene via binoculars had been under the impression that Mirage’s pet carrier was a backpack.
When Tugaw and her team flew to the site, the steep angle of the slope prevented her from being able to land the helicopter, necessitating the use of a rescue specialist. When they descended, they were surprised to discover that what they had thought was a backpack was, in reality, a cat carrier, with a live cat inside it.
Tugaw said that once Mirage was in the Helicopter, she stayed quiet, even though Tugaw tried talking to her and rubbing against the carrier.
The cat was taken to several different animal sanctuaries before ending up at a specialty vet hospital in Las Vegas, where she was treated for broken teeth and ribs and fluid surrounding her heart.
Back in Utah, Tugaw said, she was certain within just a day or two that she wanted to adopt the cat. She contacted Best Friends Animal Society, whose care Mirage was under. Best Friends got in touch with the next of kin of Mirage’s former owners, who approved the adoption.
After Mirage’s recovery, when Tugaw finally saw the cat again, she said the cat was “purring nonstop.” The cat had been dubbed by the staff at Best Friends, and Tugaw thought about changing her name to Miracle (because her survival had been so miraculous), but decided to split the difference: She calls Mirage “Mira” for short.
The cat and her new owner have settled in nicely together, and Tugaw reports that Mira naps a lot and does all the things you'd expect a mature cat to enjoy doing.
For more stories, visit https://weather.com/
Comments