A beloved dog has been rescued from several feet of snow in Alaska more than 50 hours after an avalanche separated her from her owner.
LouLou, a 4-year-old huskydoodle, was hiking with her owner, Brian, and his friend in Chugach State Park in Anchorage when an avalanche struck near Eklutna Lake. The slide separated LouLou from the two men.
Brian and his hiking companion were injured and rescued, later being taken to a hospital. LouLou, however, remained missing.
Brian’s partner and LouLou’s other owner, Lauren Padawer, was out of town when the avalanche occurred. She immediately began coordinating a search effort to find the missing dog.
The first search teams were unable to locate LouLou, but they refused to give up.
More than 50 hours after the avalanche, searchers Amanda Barker and Dave Beckett returned by helicopter after receiving an AirTag alert showing LouLou’s location.
Video footage shows Barker and Beckett landing as close as possible to the AirTag signal.
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They soon spotted LouLou, a white dog standing in the snow in the distance. She was alive, and the rescuers began moving toward her.
After leaving the helicopter, the pair crawled through the snow for about 20 minutes to reach her. LouLou barked as they drew nearer.
The rescuers called her by name and encouraged her to come with them, though she was initially hesitant.
“Come on, sweetheart,” Barker said. “Let’s go for a ride, LouLou.”
The two rescuers eventually secured LouLou with a leash, then carefully slid down the mountainside with her to return to the helicopter.
In the final clip, LouLou receives plenty of affection and well-deserved pets aboard the helicopter after her ordeal.
“To Dave, Amanda, Kathy, Barney, James, the ground search parties, the military pararescue personnel, and everyone who offered a hand: thank you,” Padawer wrote on Facebook.
“I will never forget what you did for LouLou, for Brian, his hiking partner, and for me. Sometimes it takes a mountain to remind you how extraordinary people can be.”