A search and rescue dog has been donated to the community of San Felipe, Mexico in response to the disappearance of an American woman who was last seen hiking in the Baja California, Mexico desert.
Kat Hammontre, 68, and her dog, Tootsie, went hiking Thursday, April 11, with a group of about six friends but she started to have difficulty walking the trail. She told her friends to go on without her and that she would wait in the parking lot. However, when the group returned to the parking lot, they did not see Hammontre or her dog.
Search teams, including Mexican military helicopters have since been looking for Hammontre.
While conduting the search, Mexican law enforcement officials found and eradicated two marijuana grows 34 miles northwest of San Felipe, Telemundo 20 reported Monday.
"She’s somebody’s mother, grandmother, she’s a friend to hundreds of people," Kat's friend Victoria Langsett said.
Langsett said that Hammontre and her husband lived for a time in San Diego while they were both treated for cancer before moving back to San Felipe.
On Tuesday, friends posted images on Facebook that they say show the dates and location of Hammontre before she was reported missing.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
The FB page also said a search and rescue dog was donated to San Felipe to help out in similar cases in the future.
Langsett said for her friend to survive cancer -- only to get lost in the desert -- is unimaginable.
"We're running short on time we need to give the family hope, hope has no border," said Langsett.
