An ultra runner turned unexpected mountain rescuer earlier this week, when he found a poorly pooch while out on a training run on the slopes behind his home in Ka’aawa, Hawaii.
Sergio Florian pounds the trails several times a week and its usually a fairly solitary experience, but on Wednesday, 1,000 feet up a trail on one of the most precarious sections, he came across a lost and exhausted dog that desperately needed his help, surrounded by sheer cliffs, dehydrated and with gashes on her neck and face.
“Found this sweet girl 1,000 feet up on one of the most precarious sections of one of the most dangerous trails on the island,” says Florian in an Instagram post. “Sheer cliffs and drop offs in all directions. Luckily she let me carry her down. My arms are hurting tonight, but my heart is overjoyed. I couldn’t leave another living creature in distress like that. Love happy endings.”
After posting on social media, Florian was able to reunite the dog, who turned out to be called Stevie, with her owner. He said she had gotten loose on a walk and took off on a pig trail, along with two other dogs.
“The dogs ran off after some pigs and chased them up the mountain,” explains Florian in his post. “There’s trails to this area that connect from Ka’aawa valley as well as Kahana valley. She went down a steep cliff and couldn’t return. There was another steep drop off in front of her, so she was stuck.”
Florian plans to go back to search for the the other dogs, using his knowledge of the trails from his training runs.
“It was heartwarming for us,” Florian told Hawaii News Now. “It was just something special. I’d do it again 1,000 times.”
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