Luna is small. A 10-year-old Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua mix, she weighs 18 pounds.
A dog that size might seem ill-equipped to survive a month on her own in Yellowstone National Park, a wild place with plenty of dangers for human or beast.
But Luna did survive. After nearly five weeks on her own, she was rescued and reunited on Wednesday with one of her owners.
She was skinny, having lost about 10 pounds. But blood tests were not bad, said Katie Boucher of Norris Ark Training and Recovery Center, the domestic animal rescue group that coordinated the search.
“She should recover just fine,” said Ms. Boucher, who served as a spokeswoman for the owners, a retired couple from California who chose to remain anonymous.
The couple had been exploring the park with Luna, but on Sept. 10 they wanted to go up to Norris Geyser, where dogs are not permitted for safety reasons.
They left Luna in a rental cabin in the Canyon Village area, with the door locked. But while they were gone, housekeeping workers entered the cabin, Ms. Boucher said, and Luna escaped. Employees chased her, to no avail.
In an email, Yellowstone emphasized the restrictions on pets in the park, and added, “We cannot confirm the circumstances surrounding how the dog escaped.”
The area into which Luna disappeared is deeply wooded and not accessible to the public. “Even the employees don’t really go down there,” Ms. Boucher said.
There were dangers for Luna. Freezing to death was probably the most pressing, Ms. Boucher said. Predators were a lesser concern, because there were many places where Luna could hide. Nevertheless, it still was quite possible that she could run afoul of a wolf or a coyote.
“Eagles can take a dog that size right out of the air,” Ms. Boucher added.
Starving or dehydration was another concern. So what was on the menu for the lost dog? It wasn’t especially appetizing. “She probably was eating the forest feces from all the other animals in the forest,” Ms. Boucher said. “That’s how they survive. And they can survive for months and years like that.”
Hopes for Luna’s survival were kept alive by reported sightings almost every day, from volunteer searchers, visitors and members of the park’s staff.
Once Luna’s rough location had been ascertained, it was time to try to catch her. The logical move was to use a trap, though a permit had to be obtained to place one — a process that took about two weeks.
Then, a stroke of luck. Workers from R.S.C.I., the contractor that runs a nearby wastewater treatment plant, were cutting land for a new road and began spotting the dog several times a day. The trap, which included some personal items that carried the couple’s scent, was duly moved to that area.
It can take time for a dog to become comfortable enough to go into a trap. And rescuers were concerned last weekend by a winter storm headed toward the park. So Ms. Boucher took the electronics off the trap and locked the door open so Luna could go in and out at will. Inside the trap, she put a small doghouse filled with grass where Luna could shelter. Luckily, the storm was milder than advertised.
On Tuesday, it was go time. One of Luna’s owners flew in. With colder weather coming, “This was our last week to be able to put in really intensive efforts to try to recover her,” Ms. Boucher said, “and we wanted to not leave anything on the table.”
Luna had been circling the trap and sleeping near it. But Ms. Boucher remained cautious. On Wednesday, “I sent her owner down ahead of me to check and see if she was in there,” she said. “If I had done it. Luna would have run away.
“Luna was in fact in the doghouse. And so I got down there with my gear and discovered that her owner was sitting there quite comfortably with her.”
Luna was rescued about two miles from where she escaped.
“She’s a very typical Jack Russell terrier,” Ms. Boucher said. “She’s got opinions, and she’s got energy, and she’s tenacious, and she is not going to give up easily. And that is why she’s alive.”
Despite the happy ending, Ms. Boucher had advice for those considering bringing their dog to the national park: “Yellowstone Park is a very dangerous place. Don’t bring your pets there. They’re not allowed in most of the areas of the park anyway. It’s just best to just leave them at home.”
The reunion of owner and pet on Wednesday had to be a careful one. “We train our owners to stay really calm and quiet when this happens,” Ms. Boucher said. “Their gut is to be really excited, and they want to grab their dog and cry and scream.
“She followed our instructions and she was very subdued,” she said of Luna’s owner. “But when she was walking up that hill, there were tears streaming down her face.”
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