Authorities announced the boy was found Tuesday morning.
SELIGMAN, Ariz. — A Seligman family got a happy ending to a terrifying 16-hour search for their toddler after he wandered away from home Monday night.
Officials said the two-year-old boy was found by a dog about seven miles away on a ranch near Kingman on Tuesday morning.
“There was a thousand ways for that to go really, really bad and one good way and luckily it turned out to be the good way,” Scotty Dunton of Dunton Ranch said.
Dunton said he had heard the reports of a missing boy with blonde hair, but never thought that boy would show up on his property.
The boy came walking up the road with Dunton’s dog around 7:30 a.m.
“That’s a lot of country he went through. Seven miles from here to there,” Dunton said. “There’s three big canyons and ridges all the way leading to where he came from so that’s a long rough piece of country. It’s amazing he made it as far as he did.”
Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said the missing report prompted a large overnight search spanning several law enforcement agencies.
“Not only did we search on foot, but also, there were some of the razors and 4x4s,” YCSO public information officer Megan Fitzgerald said. “We did make use of some of the helicopters to make sure we were doing everything we could to locate the child.”
The rugged terrain the boy trekked through is filled with wildlife, including bears coyotes, snakes and mountain lions.
YCSO said a ranger reported seeing two mountain lions from a thermal detector on the helicopter during the search.
Dunton told 12News his dog, an Anatolian Pyrenees, is a guardian by nature.
“He goes out at night and just kind of patrols. He goes half a mile, a mile from the house and just makes big loops, keeps coyotes out,” Dunton said.
He said the boy was left shaken by his adventure, but after some water and reuniting with his parents, he was back to his two-year-old self.
“I told him, ‘Buddy, you’re the toughest little two year old I’ve ever seen.’ He’s like, ‘Yep,’” Dunton said.
The boy was reunited with his parents. He sustained a few scratches but had no major injuries.
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