Dog goes missing after hiker falls over waterfall; community refuses to give up on her #shorts #dogs

Nobody even knew whether Molly the Border Collie was still alive after her human fell down a 180-foot waterfall in New Zealand. But the community refused to give up on her and raised money to send a helicopter to search for her just in case. Jessica and Molly were trekking through a very remote area of New Zealand's alpine backcountry when Jessica slipped and fell over the edge of this waterfall, plunging

straight down and thankfully landing in a small pool of water, missing the surrounding jagged rocks. Thankfully, although she was severely injured, Jessica was conscious and able to use her personal locator beacon to send out an SOS. It wasn't long before a rescue helicopter arrived, but at the time, Molly was nowhere to be seen, so the crew ended up airlifting Jessica to emergency services alone. But Molly's story wasn't over.

News of the rescue spread and it reached a separate, family-operated helicopter business called Precision Helicopters. They're not generally a search and rescue operation, but Lillian, a pilot at Precision, said she just had a gut feeling that Molly was alive out there and the small company wanted to help. They started a fundraiser, hoping to raise $2,400 for a rescue mission out to the waterfall.

Within hours, they'd raised over $11,000 and had multiple experienced search and rescue volunteers on board, including a thermal imaging expert, a veterinary nurse, and a search dog named Bingo. The rescue mission was officially off the ground eight days after the original incident, and as they passed over the base of the waterfall, a small target lit up on the thermal imaging gear.

The target was only visible from a certain angle, but on closer inspection, it was, in fact, Molly, resting under a rock that she'd apparently been using as a small den, just feet from where Jessica had landed. Jessica thinks she had Molly in hand when she went over the falls, but she couldn't confirm with 100% certainty because the details were just so chaotic and fuzzy, so it's unclear whether the pup also survived the fall or just made her way there over the course of the week.

Either way, she was in remarkably good shape. Bingo and his human rescuer Wayne navigated the technical terrain over to Molly and successfully scooped her up, then brought her back to the helicopter, where pilot Matt said that he couldn't help but cry seeing the dog in good health. After a scenic helicopter ride away from the falls where it all happened, Molly was reuniting with Jessica at the helicopter base, who had just been discharged from the hospital and

was understandably overcome with emotion. While it may be a bit before Jessica is 100% recovered, she knows she's lucky to be alive, and she says she's been absolutely blown away by the support of strangers in recovering her dog safe and sound as well. and she says she's been absolutely blown away by the support of strangers in recovering her dog safe and sound as well. I'm Jen, and I post something positive every day.