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Christopher Grecco’s family breathed a collective sigh of relief on Monday after the missing 5-year-old was located by a Maine Search and Rescue Dog and her handler in the wee hours of the morning.
He was discovered about a half-mile from his last known location, reunited with his family, then taken to a hospital to be examined.
The New Jersey boy was reported missing Sunday evening after being separated from his family while on a hike.
Below, handler Dorothy Smail describes how she and Tala found Christopher:
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Grecco’s family realized he’d gone missing at about 6 p.m. Sunday evening and searched for roughly two hours before calling the York County Sheriff’s Office to hile a report.
Smail told WLBZ-2 that she and Tala — who had been first to find the boy, then alerting her handler — found Grecco lying down in the woods. She introduced herself and notified wardens that they’d found him. The boy said he’d been playing dead because he thought Tala was a fox and he was frightened.
Grecco appeared wet, tired and hungry but otherwise alright.
Grecco was the first find for Smail and her dog.
Maine Wardens Service officials are using this incident to remind people to stay together while hiking and to stay on marked trails.
They recommend looking for a lost person for about 15 to 20 minutes and then calling it in so that professional search resources and management can get started to find the person.
