About 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 19, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) received a call for help from the owners of Shelby – a female dog about a year old who had just fallen into a mine shaft. It was too deep for her owners to rescue her and she was moving around at the bottom. The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Animal Enforcement and Search and Rescue were activated and responded to the scene. Rescuers established a technical rope rescue system using the Arizona Vortex and a twin-tensioned line to lower the rescuer down to Shelby.
At about 100 feet down into the shaft, the rescuer packaged and secured the dog for transport to the surface. The technical rope team raised them to the surface, where Shelby was reunited with her owners. She was evaluated by an Animal Enforcement Officer and upon initial assessment appears to only have a few bumps and bruises.