Late Thursday evening, May 8th, Central Dispatch received a call at or about 11:23pm regarding that three people and the caller, identified as William Barlow, who stated that they were out on the Vulcan Lake trail after Barlow and another individual identified as Carl Carter Jr. had responded to the area that afternoon to help out some friends.
Barlow stated that Laruen Watson was the owner of two great Pyrenees dogs, an extremely large breed of dog, both weighing more than 100 pounds. At this time both of the dogs (Moses and Fin) had torn off the pads of their feet, and were bleeding from their feet. Both dogs were also suffering from dehydration, pure exhaustion, and they could not walk on their own. Barlow stated that they had supplies and were going to spend the night near Vulcan Lake.
On Friday morning, May 9th, while out on another call, Curry County Search and Rescue Coordinator Sgt. Jared Gray made contact with Barlow over the telephone at approximately 6:00am. At this time Barlow reported that they were able to get the dogs to the top of the ridge the night before, but they were no longer on the trail.
Barlow reported that the dogs were so weak that they could not walk. He stated that they bandaged both dogs feet attempting to get them to walk, but the dogs could not even stand on their own. At this time Barlow advised that they would continue to try and get the dogs back to the trailhead, after resting throughout the night.
Just before 8:00am, the decision to activate Search and Rescue was made. The first Search and Rescue volunteer arrived at Vulcan Lake just before 10:00am and began to walk the trail in search of the subjects and the two dogs.
Just before 11:00am, Search and Rescue was able to locate the subjects. and relayed a message that the subjects had traveled back down the trailhead, and were now just above Vulcan Lake.
Volunteers were able to drag both Moses and Fin to the top of the ridge, were placed into a flexible plastic sled called a SKED, and were then able to be dragged up the steep mountain.
Once at the crest of the trail, one of the dogs was placed into a stokes basket, which was then placed onto a wheeled cart. Over the next several hours Moses and Fin were dragged in the SKED device, and the wheeled cart all the way to the trailhead. Both Moses and Fin then left with their owner to hopefully have a full recovery.
