Trail cameras have found Ullr, a dog separated from his owner, Jacob Dalbey, following a Colorado avalanche in March 2023.
As People magazine reports, in February, almost a year after a Chair Mountain snowslide separated the Border collie/Rottweiler mix and Dalbey, Ullr was spotted alive by cameras set up by a canine tracking team, according a GoFundMe update post from Dalbey, who was critically injured in the accident on March 17, 2023.
“After 341 days, 11 months to the day of setting up trail cameras/food and moving them around in hopes of luring Ullr into one to finally get confirmation of what I have known all along, it has happened….,” the dog owner wrote in the update for the fundraiser set up to help locate that pet. Dalbey also shared that Ullr appeared in good health despite living in the wild for nearly a year.
“There are plans in place to make this a reality and bring my unbelievably strong boy to safety,” he wrote on GoFundMe, adding that the team he hired to find his dog is closer to returning Ullr now that they can estimate the canine’s location. “We have built a team of people who are very experienced at locating and recovering missing dogs who are in survival mode or wary of coming to safety,” shared Dalbey.
Dogs have shown resilience in the wild, withstanding months in uncontrollable conditions, but at this point, Ullr is most likely living in “survival mode” in the remote Colorado mountains, too scared to come to safety. “Ullr looks really really good, especially for surviving an avalanche and for being on his own for almost a year. He is in an area that we have known or expected. The calls from helpful folks who were calm enough to contact me and send GPS locations, without being tempted to push Ullr away by yelling, following, or searching for him,” wrote Dalbey on the GoFundMe page.
A friend of the owner’s set up the GoFundMe page shortly after the avalanche to help him cover the costs required to find his missing pup, including paying for professional tracking services, drone services, infrared trail cameras and cell service for them, extra attractive food for multiple feeding stations, printing posters and flyers, and search team support. “Please keep those reports of pawprints, barking, or possible sightings coming – every lead is a good lead until we prove it’s not.”
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