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Columbia Gorge News
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
www.columbiagorgenews.com
Contract Negotiations
PACO
‘He is one lucky
chihuahua’
Continued from page 1
him and get him into the car,
Wilson said she decided to
leave Paco there and come
back with her own car, in
hopes he’d be more willing
to get in. However, when she
got back, he was gone.
“He was nowhere to be
found, and this was about
7:30 at night,” she said. “So I
searched for about an hour
and a half and I could not
find him, so I was very, very
sad. I went home that night
terrified because it was cold
and he’s a little chihuahua
that doesn’t like the cold.”
That night, Wilson made
fliers to put in the mailboxes
of all of the residents who
lived nearby where Paco
was last seen, which she did
first thing the next morning
before she had to go to school
and teach.
Wilson went looking for
Paco three times a day:
before school, during her
lunch break and after school
until dark. She was searching
all around where he had last
been seen, expecting him to
have returned to where they
had last seen each other.
What she didn’t expect was
for Paco to be found three
days later, 18 miles away near
the peak of the mountain.
It was Wednesday after-
noon when she received a
text from her friend Mitchell
Buck with a picture of anoth-
er friend, Andrew Rosette,
holding Paco. The text read
‘Look who we found,’ she
said.
“They were up biking at
the top of Post Canyon and
they thought they heard
Paco bark,” Wilson said. “So
they went up toward Mt.
Defiance.”
There happened to be
utility workers up there,
Wilson said, and they had
been trying to lure Paco over
by throwing him food, but
hadn’t been able to catch
him. Paco would just snatch
the food and run back into
the forest, she said.
“They were worried, like
‘Where the heck did this chi-
huahua come from? Whose
is it?’” she said. “And Mitchell
and Andrew rode up and
were like ‘Hey, we know that
dog! That’s Paco!’”
The workers decided
to help catch him, Wilson
said. They used food to lure
Paco into the building they
were working on and then
slammed the door shut.
Buck and Rosette threw a
blanket on Paco, Wilson said,
and he freaked out.
“He peed all over and
he was biting through the
blanket,” she said. “But then
Andrew, who knows Paco,
pulled him and started pet-
ting him and he said instant-
ly, Paco fell asleep.”
However, there was still
the problem of getting Paco
down, since he was still a
little flighty. They ended up
wrapping him in Andrew’s
coat and putting him in a
backpack that was lent to
them by an Alaskan hiker
named Matt Berenson.
“One of the utility workers
was kind enough to drive
Paco, stuffed in a backpack,
down to … where my friend
Nancy picked him up in
her vehicle,” she said. “And
then they brought him to my
house.”
Wilson said she was so
impressed by and thankful
for the support she received
from the community.
“My students were bring-
ing me cards and chocolates
and everyone I know was
posting and reposting that
he was missing and getting
the word out,” she said. “I
just was so touched with how
wonderful and supportive
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Andrew Rosette holds Paco, above left, after he and Mitchell Buck
captured Paco at the top of Post Canyon. Above right, Paco takes a
rest at home by the fire.
Contributed Photos
this community was over a
little chihuahua.”
Wilson said it was amazing
that Paco survived, not only
because he’s just a 2-year-
old, nine-pound chihuahua,
but also because he’s blind.
He’s completely blind in his
left eye and can’t see very
well out of his right, she said.
There were so many things
that could’ve eaten him.
“He is one lucky chihua-
hua,” she said.
Paco’s journey wasn’t a
small one either, she said.
Not only was it two-and-
a-half days long, but from
where he was lost to where
they found him, it was an 18-
mile distance and 6,000 feet
of climbing.
“I was shocked that they
found him up there,” she
said. “I did not expect that
at all.”
Wilson said it was possible
Paco got his survival skills
from before he was rescued,
when he was part of a pack
of feral dogs that lived in
Fresno, Calif. She had been
told he was the hardest
to catch, which seems to
be something that hasn’t
changed, she said.
Now that he’s back, Wilson
said he’s been doing great.
She said his only injury was a
little scratch on his belly and
other than that he emerged
from his adventure com-
pletely unscathed.
“He is doing so well,” she
said. “And I think it’s made
him a little bolder.”
Wearing green ONA shirts and holding signs, nurses from Mid-Columbia Medical Center (MCMC)
and their supporters held another rally in The Dalles on Oct. 7. Nurses handed out flyers asking the
community to contact MCMC’s chairman of the board of trustees and demand that the adminis-
tration agree to a fair contract, according to rally organizers. At their Sept. 15 bargaining session,
the ONA negotiation team felt positive progress was being made but MCMC administration then
wanted to move to mediation. The first mediation session is scheduled for Oct. 13.
Contributed photo
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