Canelo the mountain dog and his rescuers at the peak of the volcano.
A dog that followed a group of hikers up the Pico de Orizaba volcano and stayed on the peak for almost a month has been rescued.
A group of mountain climbers led by Puebla man Hilario Aguilar scaled Mexico’s highest peak to rescue Canelo, a mixed breed hound.
The dog’s presence on the top of Pico de Orizaba, located in Veracruz, became widely known after a photo of him went viral on social media.
According to a report by the newspaper Milenio, Canelo followed a group of hikers who were giving him food along the way. He remained on the peak for almost a month, surviving freezing temperatures and snow.
Canelo was carried down the volcano by his rescuers. A video posted to social media showed his head poking out of a green and black backpack. One mountain climber noted that the dog was malnourished and that his ribs were visible. He also had an injured paw and very red eyes due to solar radiation, Aguilar said.
“… The ultraviolet rays and reflections of the sun on the snow could have left him blind,” he wrote on social media.
After his rescue, Canelo was handed over to Fátima del Ángel Palacios, a mountain climber and animal lover. She will nurse him back to full health before he is possibly put up for adoption.
In other intrepid dog news, video footage recently posted to social media showed a canine atop the Temple of Kukulcán, the imposing pyramid at the Chichén Itzá archaeological site in Yucatán. Tourists are not permitted to climb the 30-meter-high pyramid, but the rule apparently doesn’t apply to daredevil dogs.
With reports from Milenio
