After a terrible two months, a dog who has been abandoned hundreds of feet underground has finally been reunited with her family. Early in June, Abby, a 13-year-old senior dog, vanished from her Missouri, US, home, leaving her frightened owners to wonder if she had vanished forever.

A sick pup was discovered on August 6 by a small group of cavers who were exploring the Berome Moore cave in Perry County. The pup was stuck 500 feet below the surface. They started a complicated rescue operation to get her out as soon as they called the local fire department and members of the Cave Research Foundation.

One of the cavers, 66-year-old teacher Rick Haley, noticed Abby and said that she was “not in good shape,” so he set out a duffel bag, opened it, and placed Abby inside with “her head hanging out.”

He explained: “This was to protect her and the rescuers as she will undoubtedly struggle” in a Facebook post.

Rick noticed that Abby was underweight and frail but didn’t appear to be hurt, so they started planning how to bring her to the surface.

Together with colleague cave diver Gerry Keene, both of whom have had specialized training in cave rescue, they squeezed and wriggled their way through narrow spaces to raise Abby.

She was completely compliant as we took her 500 feet to a very tight, uncomfortable steep ascent and handed her hand to hand upward to the surface.

The procedure took about an hour, during which time another caver knocked on doors carrying a picture of the dog in search of her owner.

The Bonner family was “astonished” to learn Abby was still alive because they had reported her missing on June 9; therefore, she may have been buried alive for close to two months.

The cherished dog was “glad to get out” despite being a little shook up and is now returning to her former self.

If all 30 of those cavers had been present, you would have found 30 individuals assisting this rescue, according to Rick, who happened to be one of the only persons on the surface when the rescue was necessary.

He claimed that while the exact circumstances of how Abby got so far inside the cave remain unknown, it is possible that she fell into an aperture when following a tiny animal and sank further because of the floods brought on by the severe rains.

Now that she’s back in capable hands, that’s all that matters.