For a week, Molly the border collie was somewhere out in New Zealand’s alpine backcountry, missing after her owner fell 55 metres during a hike. On Tuesday, she was finally found sitting near the foot of a waterfall and brought home.
The rescue happened after public donations paid for a volunteer helicopter team to search for the dog in the Campbell Range in the Arahura Valley, on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island.
Molly had been missing since 24 March, when her owner, Jessica Johnston, tumbled down the drop and was seriously injured. Johnston was rescued by helicopter, but Molly was nowhere to be seen.
Finding the dog again was always going to be difficult. The accident happened in a remote part of the New Zealand wilderness, and there is no official funding to rescue animals lost there.
Lillian Newton, of Precision Helicopters, said she still believed Molly might be alive.
“The chances of finding the border collie were slim given the remote location of the accident on the Campbell Range in the Arahura Valley, in the West Coast region of New Zealand’s South Island. But Lillian Newton, of Precision Helicopters, said she had ‘a gut feeling’ that Molly was still alive.”
Newton said the small family business wanted to help, but could not afford to pay for a private search itself. Helicopters cost about $50 a minute to run.
“We rang Jess and made sure she was okay for us to put it to the public,” Newton said. “The goal was to get $2,400 and some volunteers that were experienced to come along.”
The response was fast. Within eight hours, the appeal had raised $11,500 from what Newton called “complete strangers across New Zealand”, and donations were closed. After that, the rescue plan came together.
Newton described the southern alps, where Molly went missing, as “extremely remote, rough, bushy and wet.” Even so, a team of experienced volunteers stepped in and used their human search-and-rescue skills for a dog mission.
Georgia, a volunteer, flew in from Christchurch with thermal imaging gear. Wayne, a helicopter crewman, also joined the mission. He brought his Jack Russell, Bingo, as emotional support in case Molly was frightened. Newton’s father, Matt, a former rescue helicopter pilot, flew the helicopter.
“They went directly to the spot where the owner, Jessica, had fallen. And much to our surprise, Molly was there,” Lillian Newton said.
Molly was found at the foot of the waterfall, in what Newton called a “challenging little spot”. She was surrounded by sharp, mossy rocks and spraying mist.
The rescue team thought Molly may not have fallen down the waterfall with Johnston. Instead, they believed she may have spent the week slowly making her way back toward the last place she had been with her owner.
To get her out, Matt Newton hovered the helicopter low while Wayne climbed out. He offered Molly a bit of sausage, then picked her up and carried her back to the aircraft. Video of the rescue shows Molly under Wayne’s arm, while Bingo is tucked under the other.
None of the people involved knew Johnston or Molly before the mission. But Newton said the mood changed quickly once they were able to pass on the news that the dog had been found.
“Someone told me that I would be ‘lotto lucky’ to find her, so for it all to pay off is just amazing,” Lillian Newton said.
Newton said Johnston had been lucky that the water had broken her fall, but her injuries were still serious. She suffered a split elbow and was bruised from head to toe. At the same time, she had spent the week dealing with not knowing what had happened to Molly.
“I’d say she’ll heal up a lot better now,” Newton said.
In a Facebook post, Johnston said it had been “a bloody rough week, but with both of us back home I can add this adventure to the list. Still a great trip before our lives got turned upside down.”
