JAY — Rescuers searched for about three hours before a Maine Warden Service K-9 found a 2-year-old girl Tuesday who was reported missing from a home on Morse Hill Road, off state Route 17 in North Jay.
The child had some minor scrapes and bug bites but other than that was uninjured, Jay police Chief Joseph Sage said. She was checked out at the scene by ambulance personnel from MaineHealth EMS.
The girl had wandered out of a yard on Tripp Lane and into the woods. The child was reported missing at about 11 a.m. and found roughly three hours later about 300 yards into the woods, officials said.
More than 20 police officers, firefighters, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office deputies, game wardens, three police K-9s and volunteers from the community searched the woods around that area before she was found lying down by a log, he said. She had laid down and rested beside the log but was awake when Warden Jake Voter and K9 Koda found her.
The Jay Fire Rescue Department and the Maine Warden Service also launched drones to try and find the child.
Her family was very excited she was found safe, Sage said.
“Warden Voter and K9 Koda did an excellent job locating this young toddler in the thick woods where she was hidden by the brush,” said Maine Game Warden Sergeant Scott Thrasher in a news release Tuesday evening. “Given the child’s age, it was important to get multiple searchers here quickly and get them searching. It was great teamwork by multiple agencies that made for a very happy ending for the toddler and her family.”
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