Jody Sparks, owner of the Nature Cafe at the Hawaii Nature Center in Iao Valley, said he was hoping to pick up the dog today from the Maui Humane Society.

"I just don't want her to ever be in that situation again," said Sparks, who had heard the dog yelping in distress for days. "I lost my dog a year and a half ago to old age. It's like having a family member missing. And having her up on the hill – that's tugging on my heartstrings."

At the Humane Society, Executive Director Jocelyn Bouchard said staff members began making arrangements for the adoption Thursday soon after the dog's owner surrendered the animal.

"Hopefully, this dog will get a fabulous home now," Bouchard told The Maui News.

The 2-year-old brown heeler mix was turned over to the Maui Humane Society on Wednesday after Sparks' nephew Steven Fischer located the animal on a rocky ledge high up the 400-foot cliff above the Nature Center and Kepaniwai Park and Heritage Gardens.

Sparks, Fischer and Hawaii Nature Center employees had heard the dog yelping and barking for 18 days and had repeatedly hiked into the area above the Nature Center to look for the animal.

After Fischer found the dog at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Hawaii Nature Center Director of Operations J.D. Wyatt and Programs Manager Jay Franey climbed up to the ledge to help bring the dog down. The three men used ropes to rappel down the sheer cliff, sliding the dog to each other in a blanket before Franey placed the 20-pound animal in a backpack to carry her down.

Once the dog was off the mountain, Sparks carried her to a waiting Maui Humane Society animal control officer. Sparks had packed water and high-protein dog food for his nephew to carry as he searched for the animal.

The dog is the same type and size but a different color from his pet that died, Sparks said. He said that dog had also been abandoned.

Sparks told the officer that he would adopt the dog if the owner didn't want her or couldn't be found.

"They need a helping hand and I'm here," Sparks said. "I'll be happy if I can have her."

From an identification tattoo in the dog's ear, Maui Humane Society staff determined that the dog was adopted on Nov. 2, Bouchard said. It had been a stray.

She said staff members made contact with the owner Thursday, and he said he would surrender the dog because she kept running away.

The dog apparently had been living in the Kehalani subdivision below Wailuku Heights on the opposite side of the ridge from which she was rescued, Bouchard said.

"She's in amazingly good shape," Bouchard said. "She's really doing well. She's just as sweet as can be."

The dog had no injuries but is "really thin," Bouchard said. She said the dog didn't appear to be badly dehydrated. Hawaii Nature Center employees said she may have been able to get water because of recent heavy rains in Iao Valley.

"We are so proud of these three that didn't give up on this dog and consider them heroes," Bouchard said.

She noted that, in addition to his job at the Hawaii Nature Center, Wyatt is a Maui Humane Society board member.

Bouchard said the agency receives several calls a year about animals, usually dogs, that are stuck in gulches or other hard-to-reach areas.

Without the necessary skills and equipment to launch rescue efforts, the Maui Humane

Society often has to rely on community members to help, she said.

"Many of these animals find themselves in such precarious situations most agencies cannot risk their employees' lives," Bouchard said. "For this reason, many times these rescues are performed by private citizens.

"We just honored two such individuals for having provided rescue to dogs that were in similar situations."

She said the agency will look into the possibility of having staff members trained in animal rescue skills such as rappelling – "although we will still have to carefully evaluate our response."