Charles Reigies, Mia’s owner, along with his girlfriend, Hanna Poscente, hit a patch of black ice and flipped their car on its side, two hours away from home.
Poscente suffered a broken neck and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, but Charles continued to search in the snow until a tow truck could arrive. Despite his effort in the dark and the snow, there was no sign of Mia.
Following her release from the hospital the next day, Hanna posted on different Facebook groups that aid in searches for lost dogs like Mia. As time continued to pass, the search group grew even bigger and more and more people joined in on the search for Mia.
“They were like their own little village looking for Mia, a dog they had never met before,” said Hanna.
Janet Cross, a member of the Facebook group who lived twenty minutes from the site, took matters into her own hands and set up a trail camera near the crash site ten days later. She had heard that dogs return to the place where they lose their owners and what she discovered was true! She found that Mia was returning to the crash site twice daily.
Janet described the images saying, “She's looking at the spot. She's looking for her family. She's looking skinny, so yeah, it was pretty heartbreaking."
The community began calling and posting about Mia sightings, and Charles and Hanna returned to the site as often as possible. Many of the visits were close, such as Charles leaving the site at five pm and Mia returning at seven pm.
“Just any day we came back empty handed, it was terrible," Charles explained.
Cross worked as though it was a full-time job, setting a trap from animal control, and checking it every hour. She would not give up hope on returning Mia to her family.
Following a fence that the accident destroyed being rebuilt, Mia was not seen on camera for eight days. Hope was beginning to wane until Hanna received that one call they had been hoping for.
Hanna remembers the words, "I'm looking at your dog," over the phone.
Hanna was immediately driven to the home, ten miles from the accident by a friend. Mia was scared away, but Hanna decided to try again the next day. Walking down train tracks, she spotted her friend hidden in the snow. Mia yawned, and began walking towards Hanna.
The moment was captured on camera and Mia began to jump all over Hanna in joy. The same happened when Mia saw Charles when they returned home. Their family was once again whole! Even after surviving in the cold for over a month on her own, Mia was luckily unharmed and only slightly malnourished.
Thanks to the efforts of a community determined to reunite a family, this wonderful furry friend survived in the cold Colorado snow and was able to be brought back home!
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