Missing Arizona Toddler Found By Rancher’s Dog And Guided To Safety Through Mountain Lion Country

A missing Arizona toddler who walked some seven miles overnight was found Tuesday after a rancher’s dog guided the boy to safety.

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a report of a missing 2-year-old who wandered away from his home in Seligman, about 100 miles south of the Grand Canyon, shortly before 5 p.m. Monday. More than 40 search and rescue personnel responded to search along with deputies from neighboring Coconino County Sheriffs Office and state police.

The search continued overnight, and after 16 hours, a nearby rancher reported finding a young child on his property. The rancher reported that his dog, Buford, found the boy while patrolling the property and “likely protected and directed the missing boy to safety,” the sheriff’s office said.

The ranch was some seven miles from where the boy went missing, and an Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter spotted two mountain lions in the area the boy traversed overnight.

In a video shared by the sheriff’s office, the rancher, Scottie Dunton, explained that he was getting ready to leave his property Tuesday morning when he found Buford and the boy at the entrance to his ranch, and he knew it was the missing boy he’d heard about in the news.

Dunton said he asked the boy if he had been walking all night, and the boy said he slept under a tree. The boy told him that Buford found him.

“I’m guessing he found him over here in the horse pasture somewhere under a tree and then just brought him home, so, it’s what he does. He loves kids so I can imagine he wouldn’t leave him when he found him,” Dunton said of Buford.

“I can’t believe that kid made it that far,” Dunton said, speculating the boy may have followed a clear-cut path alongside a power line. “There’s three big mountain ranges between here and his house and big valleys and, yeah, it’s, for a 2-year-old to do that, it’s insane.”