A tragic fall claimed the lives of two hikers last week in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. Miraculously, their cat survived the deadly fall and is recovering with the Best Friends Animal Society.
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00:00Last week there was a tragic fall that claimed the life of two hikers at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.
00:06The couple's cat also fell, but somehow survived the 380-foot drop.
00:11Now in the care of Best Friends Animal Society, they named the 12-year-old cat Mirage.
00:19Joining us is Judah Batista, Judah Batista co-founder and chief sanctuary officer at Best Friends.
00:28And we want to know, how was Mirage found and brought to your sanctuary and this whole thing?
00:35Good morning.
00:37So Mirage was recovered by the search and rescue team that was sent to search for the hikers who ended up being deceased.
00:51She was found in a soft-sided carrier that was covered in dirt right near where they were recovered.
01:00She was remarkably alive and brought immediately to a boarding facility in the small town of Panguitch, which is right outside of the National Park.
01:13And the sheriff from Garfield County, his name is Chad Justice, he contacted us and we sent someone up to collect her right away.
01:26It's about an hour away.
01:28She was brought to our clinic and Dr. Tanya did her initial physical exam just to make sure there wasn't any obvious injury.
01:35And we did x-rays, we did blood work.
01:40She does have a couple of broken canines and a couple of cracked ribs, but she's recovering very, very well and is an incredibly sweet cat.
01:49And of course, obviously, she survived a lot of trauma with this.
01:54How are you guys equipped to handle this?
01:56I mean, have you ever seen cases like this before with animals?
01:59We've seen cases of trauma, but not anything so dramatic.
02:04You know, of course, there's a lot of things that can happen in animal rescue, but this is an incredibly dramatic scenario, especially given the tragedy that happened for the two hikers.
02:21She's remarkably good condition.
02:23We have a full-service clinic with x-ray, blood analysis equipment.
02:29We have staff vets and vet techs.
02:32And so we were able to be immediately responsive to her needs.
02:36And thankfully, they were not too severe.
02:40With snowing, icy conditions, what role do you think weather played in both the tragedy and Mirage's survival?
02:50It's incredibly hard to know.
02:52You know, I don't know if that's part of how the tragedy occurred.
02:57It's given the fall.
03:02It's not really explainable, in my view, that she survived.
03:07That soft-sided carrier has no padding to it.
03:12There's nothing about it that should have protected her.
03:15It's kind of miraculous.
03:17Of course, this is really a very interesting tale here for Mirage.
03:24And we want to know, as we go into these next phases, as she's clearly a survivor, can you actually find her in adoptive home or long-term care?
03:32What are you looking into for those stages of her life?
03:34So our immediate goal is to support her recovery.
03:39She's doing really well.
03:40We have been in touch with extended family because knowing what they've been through, if there's an opportunity for them to be her next home, that would be amazing for her.
03:54If they're not able to, then we will look for a home.
03:57But we don't want to put pressure on them while they're sorting through their other grief and trying to understand their own circumstances.
04:08Judah Batista, co-founder and chief sanctuary officer at Best Friends Animal Society, thanks for joining us.
04:17Sad story, but also a survival story.
04:21And that's a ray of good news.
04:23Yeah, it really is.
04:24Yeah, thank you.