Man, Dog Rescue 81-Year-old Woman From Muddy Ditch: North Port Police

NORTH PORT, FL — A man and his puppy were instrumental in finding and rescuing an 81-year-old woman “who was disoriented” and went missing Monday afternoon, North Port police wrote in a Facebook post.

The woman was last seen in the area of S. Cranberry Boulevard and Colonade Lane. Police posted information about her on social media, which was seen by North Port resident Mason Barnhard.

A few minutes later, his 4-year-old dog Raven began barking, letting him know something wasn’t right in the wooded area behind his home.

Barnhard went into the woods to check it out and “there, in a muddy, hot and wet retention ditch was the missing woman. She had become stuck, lying in the brush,” police wrote. “Without Mason’s and Raven’s actions, we could certainly have a tragedy on our hands.”

The woman is now safe at home and her family has been given resources to lessen the chances of this happening again.

North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison also recently stopped by to meet Mason and Raven.

“They are both heroes in our book,” police wrote.