The Jackson Hole News & Guide this week is reporting the remarkable survival story of Valentine, a 6-year-old pack horse that had fallen ill during the November hunting season and was basically left for dead in the the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
When she was detected by a snowmobile trail groomer in mid-December, the outfitter was dumbstruck.
How did she find enough food in snow that piled up to five feet deep and temperatures that dipped to minus 30 degrees?
And how did she elude the wolves that would have found her bogged down and easy prey?
It's an equine Revenant movie in the making.
“She hung high up North Forth and Fish Creek, and I think that’s what saved her from the wolves,” said BJ Hill, owner and operator of Swift Creek Outfitters and Teton Horseback Adventures.
Knowing the horse was alive was one thing. The rescue would be equally remarkable.
The mare was about 6 miles down from the Continental Trail — a sidehill snowmobile route that wouldn’t normally be packed and groomed at that point in December.
“I ride a brand-new 800 RMK snowmobile and it was challenging for the three of us to actually snowmobile down to where she was,” said U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer Dirk Chalfant, who joined the attempt with the outfitter and his son.
But when the horse spotted them, she made it clear she did not want to be left behind again.
“She didn’t want to spend another night back there alone,” Chalfant told reporter Melissa Cassutt. “If we had to leave her and drive away, I think she would have been heartbroken.”
The men brought hay for the gaunt horse and used their snowmobiles to pack a negotiable path out.
The weather wasn't helping: a storm that day dumped about 8 inches of new snow as they worked.
The snowmobile groomer came in on a road below the rescue and assisted by packing a route out. The snowmobile rescuers would pack it more, and still the horse had to have a huge heart for survival to continue.
“That horse would walk in our tracks and break through into 5 feet of snow,” Chalfant said. “We just took the time it took. It basically took eight hours — 1 mile an hour — to lead it out.
“She never quit,” Chalfant said. “She never tied up.”
After what Chalfant estimated was 20 miles of travel, they finally reached the Moccasin Basin parking lot east of Togwotee Pass, where they loaded her up in a trailer to take her back to her winter home in Pavillion.
“To be honest with you,” Chalfant said, “when we went down there, we didn’t think we could get her out. But all the stars aligned.
“To me, it was a Christmas miracle.”
Update: This story is taking off on social media. Predictably, a lot of people are calling for the outfitter's head. Some are saying he was an idiot for not having a gun, and in that case he should have put the horse down rather than abandon it in the forest.
IN COLORADO, IF YOU ABANDON YOUR ANIMAL TO DIE, YOU WILL BE CHARGED WITH ANIMAL CRUELTY
Most states have laws that say you cannot abandon your animals. Yes, there may be emergency situations where you have to leave an animal behind, but you are responsible for that animal - and if you choose to do nothing, you will be charged with animal cruelty.
In 2012, Anthony Joseph Ortolani was charged with animal cruelty after abandoning his German Shepherd on Mount Bierstadt.
He claimed he contacted authorities who allegedly told him it was "too dangerous" during the storm. However, once the storm cleared, Ortolani still made no effort to retrieve his dog - or confirm that she had died and wasn't still suffering up on the mountain.
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| Animal lovers took turns carrying her down the mountain. Why couldn't Ortolani have done this for a dog he claimed to love so much? |
Everybody says, 'Why didn't you go back?” My condition was significantly deteriorated, my emotional condition was no good, I thought she was dead,' Ortolani told reporters.
MAURY JONES TRIES TO JUSTIFY ABANDONING THIS HORSE TO DIE
But Facebook reader Maury Jones offered
Is it more humane to kill a sick horse or hope it gets well? If it gets well, it has lots of grass and water nearby. Put yourself in that position; You do not have a firearm, just pepper spray. You are 20 miles to the trailhead and have to make it there by dark because you are leading a long pack string of horses through grizzly country. What would you do?
Yes, they had to leave it but the frequently checked the trailhead and asked anyone riding the trail if they had seen the horse. No one had, so BJ and his guide didn't "abandon" the horse.
When even more vile threats and comments were made toward the outfitter, Jones posted this detailed account in the comments with the original story by the Jackson Hole paper:
Here is the true story, and I knew it the moment I read the article. I called BJ last night and got the straight scoop and it was exactly as I figured it was. I know BJ Hill well and he takes good care of his stock and cares about them (and, by the way, he is no friend of the wolf). He had a riding stable right near mine in Alpine one summer so I know how he takes care of his horses.
When his wranglers were packing out, the mare became ill. Couldn't continue. She was lying on her side groaning and breathing heavy.
So his wranglers had the option of trying to kill her without a firearm on them (slit her throat with a Leatherman pocket knife? Beat her to death with rocks?) or leaving her hoping she would get well. They didn't have a firearm because pepper spray is the correct and non-lethal way to deal with grizzlies. A gun is just one more heavy thing to have to pack and carry.
OK let me ask this: what if you found yourself in an emergency situation? No cell phone service to call 911 and for whatever reason - horse died, ran off, etc. you are unable to hike out on your own. Would you still be thinking, "Boy I'm glad I didn't bring that heavy gun with me"...
They chose to leave her there and, fortunately she survived but unfortunately it was a long time before she was found.
One would normally expect the horse to come on down the trail after she got better, before the snow got deep, the direction her friend horses went. That would be normal horse behavior, to follow the trail back. BJ and his staff checked the trailhead frequently and talked to people using that trail and no one had seen her.
So BJ surmised she had died and been picked to the bones by coyotes, wolves, bears, eagles, and ravens. It wasn't worth a 20 mile ride back up there to see a pile of bones.
He was surprised when she was located alive. It took BJ, his son, and a Forest Ranger a full day in below-zero temperatures to rescue the horse. 20 miles of working diligently to pack down a trail with snowmobile and help the horse along to get her home. BJ said she is in a corral next to his home and doing just fine.
[edited for length]
Maury Jones defends abandoning the animal to die. Does he also defend the decision they made for SIX WEEKS to not bother to go back and try to retrieve her? He says it's not' "worth a 20 mile ride back up there"... well, the men who saved her life didn't think it's too much trouble to bring hay to her and lead her back down to where they could put her in a trailer and take her to safety.
I could see leaving her behind in a life or death situation. But you are responsible for your animal. They had a duty to return as soon as possible and to either lead her out or to go back to shoot her and put her out of her misery or to confirm that she had died, whether on her own or because she had been attacked, killed and eaten by something.
Related:
I'm sure the horse is quite happy it didn't get shot.
ReplyDeleteMost riders don't have a clue how to shoot a horse anyway. There was one shot up in the Olympic Peninsula and left for dead. It was rescued years later, blind from the gunshot wound.
I know of one moron who flipped a horse trying to load it out of an auction. Knocked the horse out, then tried to shoot it. At that point the horse came too, fatally wounded, and started thrashing like crazy until it bled out.
So you know what I think about all of you critics. You're the stupid ones.