DAMARISCOTTA, Maine — A Maine game warden and his warden K-9 found a missing 11-year-old girl from Damariscotta Monday morning who did not want to go to school.
The girl, who left her home around 8:15 a.m., reportedly hid 20 feet up in a tree after becoming upset with her mother about having to attend school, a news release from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife said.
"The mom thought her daughter had headed out to the car, but when the mom went out to the car, the girl was gone," the release said Monday evening.
According to the release, friends and family members of the girl searched for her but did not find her. Shortly after 9 a.m., they notified the Damariscotta police.
Damariscotta police officers, as well as a K-9 unit from the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, also searched and were unable to find the girl, the release stated. The Maine Warden Service was called in to assist.
Around 11:25 a.m., Maine wardens searched the ground area while a Maine State Police pilot searched from the air in a plane, according to the release Monday. A drone from the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office was also used during the search.
Then, around 12:25 a.m., Warden Jake Voter and Warden K-9 Koda headed to the right side of the girl's home to search the woods.
"Approximately 200' from Voter’s truck, K-9 Koda started circling around a pine tree, and wouldn’t leave the tree," the release said. "Voter didn’t see anything at first, but upon circling the tree, he noticed the young girl on the backside of the tree, about 20 feet from the ground."
The 11-year-old asked Voter was his dog's name was, and after Voter told her Koda's name, he asked if she needed help. The girl was already on her way down the tree, though, to see Koda, according to the release.
"When she got down from the tree, she threw Koda’s ball for her, and then Warden Voter, Koda and the young girl walked out of the woods and the girl was reunited with her family," the release said.