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12-Year-Old Boy Scout Helps Rescue Two People, 100-Pound Dog Lost In Woods With Homemade Stretcher

Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Jorge Velasco Contributor
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A 12-year-old Boy Scout in Hawaii is being praised after rescuing a couple and their dog on a hiking trail in August.

12-year-old David King and his mother, Christine, were nearing the end of their 15-mile hike on the Waimano Trail in Pearl City, Hawaii, to earn David a Boy Scouts Merit Badge when they ran into a local couple, KHON2 reported. The couple took a wrong turn, had no water, and their cellphones were dead.

More than three miles out from the beginning of the trail, their dog, a 100-pound pitbull named Smokey, was injured and could not walk. (RELATED: Woman Arrested In Hawaii After Allegedly Misspelling ‘Maderna’ On Fake Vaccine Card)

“We asked ‘oh do you need any help?’ They said ‘yeah,’ they showed us the dog’s paws had some cuts on it,” David said, according to KHON2. “So, it hurt when the dog would walk. When the dog would walk, it would just be really painful.”

The pitbull was too heavy for David to carry, so he built a stretcher to carry the dog.

“We built them a stretcher using a big tree branch that we broke in half and used our shirts and slid it on using the armholes to fit the sticks through,” David said, according to KHON2.

Although their phones weren’t dead, the Kings did not have cellphone service, so they decided to take turns carrying Smokey. David explained that “it was really tough” because he had just played a soccer game before hiking, KHON2 reported.

“Sometimes we did four people, two on each side, two people — my mom and the man — and then the dog would get off and walk some which was really helpful and let us relax.”

David, his mother, and the couple all made it safely back to the beginning of the trail. Smokey is also recovering well, KHON2 reported.

While hiking in a New York State Park in October, a local woman suddenly lost her dog after he fell into a narrow crevice. The dog could still be heard barking and was rescued after five days and is in good health.

Jorge Velasco

Follow Jorge on Twitter @velascoAjorge.