20-Year-Old Mummified Dog Found Inside Tree Trunk
If you have a dog as a pet, you know that the slightest movement can cause a flurry of running and barking.
Squirrels in the back yard are a particular draw for our capricious canines, who can change from cute and cuddly to vicious hunter in the blink of an eye.
A hunting dog was doing what he loved to do one day: chasing small animals and maybe even catching them at some points.
But when he became stuck in a tree, it would mean the end of a dog whose body was not found for twenty years.
Loggers working for Kraft Corporation were out cutting down an old oak tree when they made a startling discovery.
Inside the hollow of the tree, they were shocked to see a dog they then named “Stuckie.”
The dog’s body had not decomposed over the years, but had mummified. It was believed that natural tannin from the tree had preserved the dog’s body by drying out the area surrounding it.
The loggers took the tree with the dog’s body to the Forest World Museum in Waycross, Georgia. Images of poor Stuckie were taken, showing his entrapment.
Forest World’s Manager Brandy Stevenson thinks that Stuckie most likely was chasing a raccoon. “Poor old thing. I feel so sorry for him,” he added.
Stuckie’s story is much like any dog’s story. He chased an animal into a hole at the bottom of the tree and then climbed 28 feet up in pursuit.
This is where the chase ended.
It is believed that the dog starved to death after he became stuck when the upper portion of the tree narrowed.
Because of the positioning of the tree and Stuckie’s location inside, there would have been a chimney effect, causing air to blow upwards. No scent of the dog would have been noticed by people or other animals in the area.
The images of Stuckie are amazing. Just like the Egyptian mummies, Stuckie is forever preserved. Twenty years after his entrapment, he is now given a place in the museum.
Curiosity might not have only killed the cat, but Stuckie as well. For many the death of a dog, just doing his job, was heart-breaking.
Still, the dog’s mummified body attracts thousands of visitors to the museum. His sightless eyes still look out from his woody entrapment as countless faces pass by.
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