The two-year-old Charlee Campbell disappeared at around 10 am on June 7th. She was in her grandmother’s home in Lebanon Junction, Kentucky. Little Charlee is also said to be on the autistic spectrum, but either way, her family was devastated. The little girl was missing for nearly two full days, but a pit bull dog stayed with the missing toddler the whole time.
Emergency services and volunteers had gone through nearly the entire area around Lebanon Junction. However, it wasn’t until 36 hours later, when the neighbors spotted the little girl and her guardian.
The pit bull’s name is Penny and Charlee’s family believes that she stayed with their daughter during the whole time.
“This is our hero right here,” said Beth Campbell, who is Charlee’s grandmother, in front of WIS-TV.
“When my dog didn’t come home, and my baby wasn’t home, she was not going to leave that baby until she got here,” the dog’s owner said about Penny.
Without the dog standing guard over her, Charlee would have been all alone in the wilderness, exposed to the elements.
“I can’t believe she survived it,” Bullitt County Sheriff Donnie Tinnell said.
“There’s coyotes in them hills. There’s copperheads and rattlesnakes and ticks… all the elements.
“And somehow she came out in pretty good shape,” Tinnell said, WAVE 3 reports.
Not just her family, but everyone involved in the rescue was both stunned and relieved at the sight of the girl. The chief firefighter of Lebanon Junction didn’t hesitate to brand the whole ordeal – a “miracle”.
Charlee herself stayed in the hospital for several days, just to make sure that everything’s all right and it was.
The little brown-eyed blonde was reported not to have any serious injuries, other than some scratches and bruises, and a few tick bites.
“Charlee’s amazing survival story continued tonight when she walked up on a porch on Roy Layne Road this evening,” police said on Facebook .
“The homeowners realized who she was and contacted authorities. Ironically, her dog returned home on its own a few minutes prior to Charlee approaching the homeowners,” the statement said.
