Puppies Save Toddler Lost in Woods

Man’s best friend fulfilled his duty in a story of a young child lost in a stretch of Virginia woodland on Friday.

Jaylynn Thorpe, age 3, meandered away from his sitter around 4 o’clock in the evening on Friday and was lost for 21 hours, along with the two family puppies. Friends, family, and law enforcement made up the search team that numbered in the hundreds throughout the dense woods of the Halifax County region.

Many searchers despaired that the cold 17 degree night would sap the young boy’s strength and leave him for dead.

Halifax County sheriff Stanley Noblin informed reporters that, “The only thing we wanted to do was just keep searching until we found him.” Yet Jaylynn’s desperate family knew the longer it took the worse the outcome. “We didn’t forget the issue that 17 degrees was almost unbearable,” his father, James Thorpe shared.

Authorities reported that Jaylynn and his two puppes roamed as far as a mile in the dark, maybe even across a main thoroughfare, but finally, on Saturday afternoon, parts of the search team found the boy leaning on a tree, his puppies snuggled up to him. Rescue team member Jerry Gentry reported that the Jaylynn did not say anything but, “just opened his arms up like, ‘I’m ready to go.”

Jaylynn’s relieved mother, Sarah Ingram said, “When I first saw him, he was like, ‘Momma, I got cold. I slept in the woods last night. The puppies kept me warm.’ He told me that … the dogs slept up against him. And I’m sure the body heat kept him warm.”

Another member of the search party that discovered Jaylynn, Billie Jo Roach said that the two puppies resisted leaving his side. Even when the boy was put in the ambulance to be carted off to the local hospital for a full analysis, “The puppies were watching where he went. “Where he went, they went,” Roach said.

Family members whooped and cried as the word went out that Jalynn was safe and sound. “Praise the Lord! Welcome home, Jaylynn!” bellowed his aunt, Amy Zimmerman.

Almost 300 volunteers from the states of Virginia and North Carolina showed up to search for the missing boy. “I love you! God bless you,” Ingram told all who participated. “I think I just said, ‘Thank you Lord’ … for us to have another chance!” admitted Jaylynn’s father.

Jaylynn stayed overnight on Saturday for scrutiny at Halifax Regional Hospital, and emjoyed stuffing himself full of french fries, a hot dog, a double cheeseburger and strawberry ice cream. His cuddly compatriots were honored with bowls full of doggy food.

“I definitely call this a miracle,” said sheriff Noblin.