Faithful to the Very End

A 14-year-old Jack Russell terrier named Finney stayed near her owner's body for two months after the pair went missing while hiking in the Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado.  71-year-old Rich Moore was found dead by a hunter the day before Halloween. He was last seen heading into Colorado's San Juan mountains alongside Finney on August 19.  When Moore's body was found, Finney was still alive and waiting nearby.   It remains unclear how Finney managed to survive for so long.

The day after the discovery, a search and rescue team flew to the site to recover Moore's body.  Finney received treatment at a veterinary hospital, then was reunited with Moore's family.  Archuleta County Coroner Brad Hunt said that Moore died of hypothermia. "Basically, he got up into the area hiking and looked as though he had gotten disoriented," Hunt added.

Moore was attempting to summit the 12,500-foot Blackhead Peak, located about 20 miles outside his home in Pagosa Springs.  He was reported missing after he failed to return home later that evening. Authorities spent about 2,000 hours searching for him but were unsuccessful.  Taos Search and Rescue (TSAR), a volunteer group that helps locate people missing in remote areas, said in a Facebook post it too had conducted a search with a sniffer dog between the summit and the area where Moore's car was parked.

TSAR member Delinda Vanne-Brightyn added that the area was so steep that she had to be taken in via helicopter.  Moore's body was found in a drainage basin about 2.5 miles east of the mountaintop.  "So sad, and yet so beautiful that the little Jack Russell stayed with him for all these weeks," one user wrote on the TSAR Facebook post. "Sometimes tragedies remind us of the bond between man and his best friend."

"There is no love like the unconditional love of dogs," another added. "Such faithfulness."  Officials haven't announced Moore's cause of death but do not suspect foul play, the Denver Gazette reported.