A cat managed to survive a roughly 380-foot fall at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah this week that left its two owners dead.
Matthew Nannen, 45, and Bailee Crane, 58, died Monday night or Tuesday morning after climbing over a railing at Inspiration Point inside the park, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office told KUTV-TV.
“Detectives are considering all possibilities, but preliminary investigations have not been able to definitively determine the cause of the fall,” the sheriff’s office told KUTV-TV. The pair had been living out of a U-Haul truck.
Their roughly 12-year-old female tabby cat survived the plunge, even while stuck in a carrier. The cat was taken in by the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.
Since the cat didn’t have any identification on her, the sanctuary has named her Mirage. She suffered fractures to her canine teeth and ribs but is eating without assistance, sanctuary Executive Director Judah Battista told the Salt Lake Tribune.
He said sanctuary workers are going to try to find the couple’s family to see if they want to take in Mirage and will offer her up for general adoption afterward.
“We don’t want to get ahead of that opportunity for that family that’s obviously going to be in shock and grieving at the moment,” Mr. Battista told the Salt Lake Tribune.
