Missing 12 y/o boy found ALIVE in woods of NC

[Sdiver]

Both FOX news and CNN are reporting, that the 12 year old boy scout, missing in the woods of NC, for the past few days, has been found alive, and is walking out with rescuers right now.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/20/mis...out/index.html

McGRADY, North Carolina (CNN) -- Authorities have received a radio report from searchers that a 12-year-old Boy Scout who went missing over the weekend during a camping trip was found Tuesday, a park service ranger said.

"We did have radio traffic come from one of our searchers on the scene saying that young Michael has been found. He is alive," ranger Tina White said. "We're all smiling now."

An official with the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park Service said Michael Auberry was found about 1½ miles from the campsite from which he disappeared.

White said Michael was weak but in good condition when searchers found him. Authorities were planning to bring him out of the woods in a vehicle rather than allowing him to walk out, she said.

If he doesn't need medical attention, he will be taken to a location where he will be debriefed and reunited with his family, White said.

Michael Auberry's father had expressed confidence earlier Tuesday that his son was surviving in the North Carolina wilderness.

Searchers had been combing the forest for Michael, who went missing from his Scout troop's campsite on Saturday at Doughton Park, along the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Virginia state line.

Before reports surfaced that Michael had been found, Kent Auberry said he was concerned, but not overly worried that his son, who's been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, does not have his medication with him. (Watch boy's father talk about how he takes comfort in a book that his son read )

"Michael has gone camping without his medication" in the past, Auberry said. "It's something he takes to help him primarily during school hours."

He said, "It's as worrisome to us as if he left his coat," but "we'd like him to have medication to help him focus."

Auberry told reporters confidently, "I think he's hunkered down somewhere. I hope he's found a warm place." (Map)

'There's no one to blame'
Auberry, a Greensboro, North Carolina, attorney, said if he had it to do all over again, he would allow Michael to take part in the camp out.

"I trusted the Boy Scouts to take him on this trip," Auberry said. "When we find him, I will trust the same group to take him on a trip again."

He said he knows the members of the Scout troop well.

"Someone asked me yesterday if there's anyone to blame, and there's no one to blame," Auberry said. "This happened in the blink of an eye, and I hope that soon we'll know the story."

For the first time, searchers Tuesday branched out beyond the park to 35 zones in the North Carolina game lands, managed by the state Wildlife Resources Commission, said White.

"We feel that these 35 segments give us the highest probability of success in finding Michael," White told reporters. The zones were chosen by search leaders, and she said she didn't know their acreage.

She said about 25 search-and-rescue groups and several dog teams were looking for the boy Tuesday. White said aircraft would not be used Tuesday because those in charge felt a ground search would be more effective.

Near-freezing temperatures
Weather remained a concern for searchers because temperatures have hovered near and below freezing at night. White said Michael was wearing a heavy coat and boots and had received Scout training to cover himself with leaves to keep warm.

On Sunday, the day after he disappeared, searchers found snack wrappers and a mess kit used by Michael about a half mile from the camp where he was last seen, park service officials said. They also found footprints with impressions similar to the boots Michael was wearing, but White said those had not been confirmed as the boy's footprints.

Michael, who is from Greensboro, North Carolina, had remained with an adult at the campsite Saturday while other Scouts went for a hike, said Dave Bauer of the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park Service. When the other Scouts returned, they ate lunch with Michael, who later disappeared from the camp, Bauer said.

"We are not really sure why or what happened," Saundra Lewis of the Wilkes County Rescue Squad told CNN. "He was seen at the campsite and then a few minutes later he was missing."

Once Scouts and their leaders noticed that Michael was not in camp, they began a search and, within a half hour, called the park service, Bauer said.

Bravo Zulu to all involved, and to the little guy for keeping his head and relying on his Boy Scout training.

[Five-O]

Great news...rare these days.

[bandycpa]

Thank God for this good news. Kudos to all who looked for Michael, and to the kid himself for surviving!

Wonderful, wonderful news!


Bandy

[82ndtrooper]

I just said a prayer about 10:30 EST and he as found about 11:00 EST.

Great news !!

Interesting is that he was only about a half mile from the camp sight.

[Razor]

Thank goodness the boy is ok, but that troop has some 'splainin to do, and most likely an adult is going to lose his BSA certification. BSA Youth Protection Guidlines (baseline mandatory training for all adult leaders) prohibits one adult and one boy being alone, such as the reports on situation have described.

[The Reaper]

Reports indicate that the little scamp decided since his buddies no-showed on the camping trip, to escape camp and hoof it back home alone.

I believe that his parents were not attending the event and he thought he would just hump it to the nearest road and hitchike home.

"Michael's parents said he sometimes takes Ritalin to control attention-deficit disorder." Looks like he may have been off his meds when he had this bright idea.

If this proves to be the case, he owes every person who spent their time hunting for him a personal apology and he should be handed the bill for the rescue op.

Can't believe a 12 y/o is stupid enough to do that these days.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,260134,00.html

Friend: Survivor Boy Scout Didn't Want to be on Camping Trip Before He Went Missing
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

McGRADY, N.C. —

The 12-year-old Boy Scout who survived on creek water for four days alone in the North Carolina mountains had told his tent mate before wandering off that he didn't want to go on camping trips anymore, a fellow Scout said Wednesday. The boy's father said his son told him he was trying to find a road to hitchhike home.

At first, the other campers thought Michael Auberry had just gone to clean his mess kit and that he would be back any minute, Boy Scout Griffin Prufer told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday. But the time wore on.

"I noticed my dad going into the woods yelling and screaming his name and blowing whistles and stuff," Griffin said.

"I was scared," he said. "He (Michael) said something to his tent mate. He said he didn't want to go on camping trips anywhere."

That was early Saturday afternoon. The hours became days as scores of searchers with trained dogs and heat-sensing helicopters scoured the area for the missing Scout. Then, just before noon on Tuesday, a search dog named Gandalf caught Michael's scent less than a mile from the Scout troop's camp site.

Gandalf "popped his head three times" and there was Michael, walking along a stream, said Misha Marshall, the 2-year-old Shiloh shepherd's trainer.

"He was a little dazed," Marshall said, and he was tired, hungry and dehydrated, but calm.

The searchers help Michael out of the woods and gave him granola bars, crackers and water. Later, at a hospital with his parents, Michael ate chicken fingers and asked for cookies.

"He was homesick," said his father, Kent Auberry. "He started walking, and at one point when he was walking he thought maybe he'd walk as far as the road and hitchhike home."

"We're going to have our lectures about hitchhiking again," the father said. "We've had them in the past, but with a special vigor, we'll go over that again with Michael."

Michael said he slept in tree branches, drank river water and curled up under rocks while he was in the wilderness. "He saw the helicopters and heard people calling him, but he yelled back and they didn't hear him," Auberry said.

"He's got a tremendous life spirit," the father said, adding that Michael "wants to thank Gandalf especially — even though he ate the peanut butter crackers they gave him."

Michael had worn two jackets, one of them fleece, and was believed to have a mess kit and potato chips with him when he disappeared. The temperature dropped into the 20s some nights, and he said he lost his hat and glasses in the woods.

Once rescued, though, the first thing he said to searchers was that "he wanted a helicopter ride out of there," said Blue Ridge Parkway ranger David Bauer.

Aside from a few cuts and scratches, Michael was in good health. He was given IV fluids in the ambulance to help him rehydrate and told his father he wanted to sleep, said ambulance driver Bud Lane.

Hours earlier, the boy's father had talked about one of Michael's favorite books when he was younger, a story titled "Hatchet" about a boy whose plane crashes in the wilderness, and how the boy survives on his own.

"I think he's got some of that book in his mind," Auberry said.

He said Michael had been a bit reluctance to go on the trip. The boy had asked his dad if he would give him $5 if he didn't have a good time. Auberry said he assured his son that if he wasn't happy on the trip, they would do something fun together the next day.

"To have our son back is a tremendous blessing," Auberry said Tuesday afternoon. He also offered a plea from Michael about making up his sixth-grade schoolwork.

"He's worried about make-up work in Miss Self's class," Auberry said. "So if Miss Self could cut him a break, he would be very, very grateful."

TR

[Ladyhawke]

Kudos to Gandalf, the Shiloh Shepherd and his handler that found the boy on their first day out. Knew there wasa reason I like the shepherd family as a breed . Glad the kid is safe.

[Bill Harsey]

Good news the young man is still alive but he violated the single most important wilderness survival skill.

Do not hike away from the food source or "pic-a-nic-baskets".

Yogi Bear is my hero.