3-Year-Old Missing for 3 Days Found 'Alive and Well' in Canadian Forest: 'It's a Great Feeling'

Const. Curtis Dick with Frontenac County Ontario Provincial Police told the outlet that four rescue team members stumbled upon Jude while searching the area in South Frontenac.

“This is absolutely the best-case scenario that we could have hoped for,” Dick toldThe Kingston Whig-Standard. “Lots of smiles, very happy time. The teams, both the OPP and the volunteer search and rescue members, when you work that hard for that long, man, it’s a great feeling.”

Though it remains unclear how, exactly, the toddler survived for 72 hours in the cold and rainy weather, Dick said his weather-appropriate gear likely helped.

“When the officers found Jude, he responded well, he was alert, he was responsive,” he told theWhig-Standard. “He was well dressed for the weather. He had a winter jacket on with a heavy wool sweater. He still had his boots on. So he did well for the elements, and so that’s one reason he was in such good shape, I believe.”

Dick told Global News Canada that Jude was found just under half a mile from where he was last seen, but that the property has a large body of water, which adds to the difficulty in searching it.

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source: people.com