For more than a month, a dedicated team of volunteers tried every trick in the book to coax a cautious, wolf-like dog named Diya into safety from the Split Rock Rest Area near Jeffrey City.
As it turned out, Diya didn't need a trap or a tranquilizer.
She just needed a companion willing to lace up their boots.
On Thursday morning, an anonymous Lander man who requested anonymity took to Facebook to reveal the stunning conclusion to the weeks-long saga.
He was one of the many local volunteers who had been driving out to the rest area to feed her, but over those three weeks he became convinced that none of the conventional trapping methods were ever going to work.
Fearing she was doomed to remain stranded out there long-term, he decided to try a radically different approach.
“Although I was terrified of it, I decided to risk it and try to walk her to safety,” he posted. “That walk was 90 miles. It took us four days. She followed me and my dog every step of the way. Every day she chose to continue to follow.”
It sounds like an unlikely tale, but Mark Lewis, the lead volunteer who spent weeks sleeping at the rest stop trying to rescue Diya, confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that every word is true.
“I can tell you it is not fake,” Lewis said. “He really did do it. He really hiked the 90 miles with her.”
‘She’s Smart’
Diya first arrived at the remote Fremont County rest stop in mid-September, quickly winning the hearts of dozens of locals while frustrating every effort to capture her.
A growing crew of volunteers made daily trips to keep her fed and hydrated, but despite her gentle demeanor she cleverly proved almost impossible to catch.
Deeply wary of human handling and confinement, Diya refused to step inside kennels or live traps, easily detected pills hidden in her food and bolted at the sight of portable panel fencing or a leash.
“She’s smart,” Lewis previously told Cowboy State Daily. “Even while she's eating out of your hand, she will watch that leash.”
Last week, those volunteer efforts gained new urgency.
“It was brought to my attention that they are doing the wild horse round up on Green Mountain next week which may bump our timeline,” he texted a group chat of volunteers on the morning of Oct. 16.
To speed up the process, Lewis set up a 10-foot-by-10-foot kennel crate and kept her food exclusively inside. He also brought in larger fencing panels, attempting to lure her into the enclosure with another dog so he could safely trap her with room to move.
That same night, Diya disappeared.
‘Everybody Thought She Was Dead’
“We haven't seen her all day today,” Lewis texted the group on Saturday night. “I’m sitting up here now. There's no sign of her. I will hang out for another hour and then plan on coming up before sunrise tomorrow morning as well.”
When Sunday came with still no sign of her at the rest area, worry set in among the volunteers. They wondered if she was unspayed and had perhaps wandered off in heat, but the other possibilities loomed far grimmer.
Those fears deepened when a volunteer spotted what appeared to be fresh blood on the highway less than a mile away.
“People were freaking out,” Lewis said. “Like, ‘She's gone. Where is she?’ Everybody thought she was dead.”
Unbeknownst to her supporters, Diya was already miles away. The anonymous man from Lander began his walk with her Friday night.
“To all of you who have worried about her, put in time, put in money, traveled, etc. since she disappeared, I am truly sorry,” the man posted. “But I hope you can understand that it was a delicate operation and I could not risk having any interference or interruptions.”
‘She’ll Have a Great Life’
Lewis said he understands the rationale. With so many people pouring time and resources into the effort at Split Rock, he sees why the man chose to avoid a public announcement.
Still, Lewis wishes the hiker had at least looped him in directly.
“I can honestly say that I wish that he had at least given me the opportunity to support him,” Lewis said. “I would have supported him.”
Volunteers are dying to know the full story behind the 90-mile trek, from their daily mileage and route to where they slept each of the four nights. But for now, the hiker isn't sharing those details.
For Lewis, the fact that Diya spent several nights sleeping near the man and chose to keep moving forward with him every morning speaks volumes.
Though Lewis hasn’t received many updates either, knowing the man as a fellow volunteer and seeing his willingness to hike 90 miles with Diya gives him confidence that she’s in good hands.
He also gave the hiker full credit for the creative approach.
“I never even thought of it,” Lewis said. “It’s actually a really good idea”
Lander resident Joanna Harter, a volunteer who joined the rescue effort late to help coordinate trapping methods, told Cowboy State Daily she doesn't know the hiker's identity. But she sees a common thread between him and Lewis.
While others debated the best way to handle Diya, both men bypassed the chatter and simply took action.
“It’s just going to take an individual who's going to just decide,” Harter said. "Kind of like Mark did, to just go out there and be out there.”
In those last couple of weeks, Harter brought in outside resources from lost-dog trappers and donated the large, open-air kennel trap to give Diya a safer option. Even though the dog disappeared before they could use it, Harter doesn’t feel like her time or effort was wasted.
"I'm just really happy that she’s OK and out of there,” Harter said. “It was a tricky situation, and I think it has a pretty cool, happy ending.”
Lewis said while the rescue didn’t pan out the way he’d planned for, the ending matters more than the plans.
“The goal was to get her off the mountain and into safety, and that was successful,” Lewis said. “She's safe. She'll have a great life. And that's all that any of us can hope for.”
‘He Did It For The Dog’
For Diya, her new life began with a new name.
“I chose to start calling her Juniper, or Juni for short, because of the trees that gave her shelter out there,” the Lander man posted. “For the time being, I am focusing on her decompression and slow acclimation to a more domestic way of living.”
Though Lewis has the man’s name and number, he declined to share it with Cowboy State Daily or any of the volunteers.
“He's the type that he didn't do it for him,” Lewis said. “He did it for the dog. The publicity side of it, that's not the point. So I’m respecting that.”
In his Thursday Facebook post, the anonymous man also commended the work that Lewis and others dedicated in the weeks before taking the long trek.
“They did a huge job and cared deeply about her,” the Lander man posted. “Their lack of success was through no fault of their own but she is not a dog that can be conquered or trapped.”
‘She Helped Me’
For Lewis, the end of this story marks the beginning of his own new chapter.
He had no background in stray-dog retrieval before he was asked to help at Split Rock. What started off as lending a hand for a dog in need has now become a new passion for Lewis, one he intends to carry forward.
“I never would have found that this is something that I like to do and enjoy doing if this had not happened,” Lewis said. “So, I'm grateful to Diya or Juniper or whatever we want to call her. She helped me find something that I enjoy doing."
Though he is no longer board president of Fremont County’s Furever Found, Lewis plans to launch his own venture dedicated to complex dog rescues.
Next time a situation like Diya’s arises, he wants to have the proper equipment, protocols, and education fully in place so he isn't learning as he goes.
Getting the new operation off the ground will also help fill his evenings, which for the past month were spent out at a remote rest stop.
“I spent a good portion of this morning wondering what the heck I was going do at night now,” Lewis laughed.
Though he grew attached to Diya-now-Juniper over his weeks with her, Lewis never set out to keep her for himself.
Her rescue was always about giving her a future, even if that future belonged to someone else.
“I do miss her,” Lewis said. “You have a bond with them when you spend that much time with them. It is kind of hard, but I knew that was going to happen one way or another. I was going to have to say goodbye at some point in time.”
Emma Jane Jackson can be reached at emma@cowboystatedaily.com.
