Last month, the Camp Fire wildfire wreaked havoc on the state of California, which killed 85 people and displaced thousands more.
Andrea Gaylord is one person who had to evacuate her home in the city of Paradise, and she had no idea what she would find when she returned there one month later. Andrea had fled her home on November 8, and it wasn’t until December 6 that she could go back. When she got there, Andrea found someone very unexpected waiting for her.
Andrea had to flee on such short notice that she was forced to leave her two dogs behind. She notified animal rescue workers, who contacted her to say that they had found her male Anatolian shepherd mix, Madison, several days later. Rescue worker Shayla Sullivan said that when she found Madison, he seemed apprehensive and he kept his distance from her.
Shayla returned to the area regularly to leave food and water for the dog until Andrea could come home.
“If (the evacuees) can’t be there I’m going to be and I’m not going to give up on their animal until they can get back in,” Shayla said.
When Andrea finally got home last week, she was overjoyed that Madison’s brother Miguel had been found as well!
It turns out that in the chaos of the wildfires, Miguel was taken to a shelter 85 miles away. Andrea was reunited with her dogs on Friday, and she was grateful to Madison for dutifully keeping watch over their home for a month.
“Imagine the loyalty of hanging in in the worst of circumstances and being here waiting,” she said. “Their instinctual job is to watch the flocks and we’re part of them. It’s a comforting feeling.”
Check out their emotional reunion in the video below!
