Volunteers Help Find Missing Montgomery County 2-Year-Old and His Dog In the Woods

100 volunteers joined Forest Rangers, police officers, and a number of other agencies to search for a 2-year-old boy and his dog after they went missing from their Mongomery County backyard.

A call came into Montgomery County 911 on June 24 at around 12 PM when the child went missing. He was playing with his twin brother and a puppy in the yard when his mother noticed he was gone.

More than 100 volunteers, Forest Rangers and DEC Environmental Conservation Police Officers (ECOs) responded to the scene to assist the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Numerous agencies assisted in the search, including New York State Police, New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control, and Schoharie County Search and Rescue Team, as well as several area fire departments.

Four hours after the boy went missing, one of the volunteer search crews, led by an Environmental Conservation Officer, located the missing boy and the dog. He was in a thickly wooded area several hundred yards behind the family's home.

Just before 4:00 PM the boy was carried out of the woods and reunited with his family.

It isn't just people the DEC rescues. Over the past week, conservation officials have helped five animals get back to where they safely belong. But it wasn't easy. Imagine trying to rescue something and it’s doing everything possible to make it difficult. That’s the problem these officers face in attempting to help injured or trapped animals.