Housekeeping ignored the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on a family’s Yellowstone cabin, and their tiny dog spent over a month alone in the park

Yellowstone National Park is home to bison, bears, wolves, and boiling hot springs, which makes it a dangerous place for a small pet to get lost. A 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier and Chihuahua mix named Luna managed to survive there on her own for more than a month before volunteers finally caught her, according to BroBible.

Luna’s family, who are from California, traveled to Yellowstone in September and stayed in a pet-friendly cabin in the Canyon Village area. This area is located on the park’s eastern side, where lodges and cabins can host hundreds of visitors. During the trip, the family left Luna in the cabin while they went to see the Norris Geyser Basin, hanging a Do Not Disturb sign on the door before heading out.

Housekeeping reportedly ignored the sign, and Luna slipped out when the door opened. Staff spent about two hours trying to corral the 18-pound dog, but she evaded them and disappeared into the wilderness. Her escape kicked off a search that would stretch through the rest of September and well into October.

Luna kept returning to the spot where she escaped, as if she was looking for her family

A group of volunteers mounted a search for Luna, including members of the Norris Ark Training and Recovery Center in Montana. The group posted a steady stream of updates as sightings came in from around the park. Luna appeared to be looking for her family, as she was repeatedly spotted near the area where she first ran off and even wandered into nearby lodges.

ABC7 News reported that Luna had been seen crossing intersections, strolling through employee housing, and walking into lodges through automatic doors. However, every attempt to catch her came up short. The tiny terrier stayed just out of reach for weeks, and the volunteers kept posting new sightings as they came in.

Concern for Luna grew as temperatures in the park began to drop with winter approaching. Volunteers eventually turned to a humane trap, and on Wednesday the search finally ended when Luna walked inside. The trap had been baited with scraps from a T-shirt and a pillowcase belonging to her family, apparently to draw her in with familiar smells.

Luna had lost some weight during her time on the run, as she spent more than a month without regular meals. However, a volunteer who drove her to a veterinarian for a checkup said she was alert and in good spirits. The Norris Ark group shared the news of her capture on Facebook.

Stories of lost dogs finding their way back tend to strike a chord. In Tampa, a lost dog walked into a police station on his own before being reunited with his owner. Luna’s ordeal lasted far longer, and it played out across roughly 3,471 square miles of protected land, most of it in Wyoming.

Yellowstone allows pets only in developed areas such as campgrounds, parking lots, and roads, where they must be leashed unless they are in a crate or a car. They cannot go more than 100 feet from those areas, which keeps them off trails and boardwalks. More than 4.5 million people visit the park each year, and some Canyon Village cabins welcome pets.

Luna’s family has not said when she will be back home in California, though her story may prompt other visitors to think twice about leaving pets alone in park lodging, even with a sign on the door.