Published Aug 8, 2025
Kellie B. Gormly / Cats.com
Spoiler alert: This heartbreaking story has a miraculous happy ending.
As pilot Chelsea Tugaw’s helicopter hovered over the ground of Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park, where a couple fell to their deaths in a nearly 400-foot fall, the crew spotted what looked like a backpack about 100 feet away from the bodies. The county sheriff asked the crew to climb down the helicopter’s cable hoist and pick up the backpack, just in case it would help the investigation of the accident.
When the rescuer returned to the helicopter with the “backpack,” Tugaw and her crew were shocked: The item was actually a soft-sided cat carrier, covered with mud and dirt. And inside it was a severely injured, traumatized and quiet – but miraculously, still alive – cat!
Somehow, this female tabby cat had survived the 380-foot fall when her humans, Matthew Nannan and Bailee Crane, crossed a safety railing with the cat carrier and fell over the edge, plunging down a steep hillside. With amazement, Tugaw – who does search-and-rescue missions for the state of Utah – flew the cat from the canyon to a fire station. The sheriff’s office contacted Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, which promptly sent someone to pick the cat up and bring her to the sanctuary for emergency medical care.
Kellie B. Gormly / Cats.com
The cat had broken ribs and teeth, and she later developed fluid around her heart, likely as a result of trauma from the fall. Yet, with TLC and intensive veterinary care at Best Friends, the cat, estimated to be about 12 years old, pulled through the ordeal.
“It’s really amazing. I don’t know how she made it through it,” says Tugaw, 37, who refers to the legend that cats have nine lives. “She probably used at least seven of her lives in that accident.
“I was really surprised and in awe by the care that Best Friends was able to give,” Togaw says. “I just think it’s really neat that they are able to provide all these services to cats. They didn’t know what her fate was going to be. The vet was amazing.”
And after Tugaw rescued the wounded animal, she couldn’t stop thinking about the poor cat. Her heart stirred, Tugaw contacted Best Friends the next day and offered to adopt the cat, named Mirage, if that were an option. Best Friends had made contact with the cat’s owners’ family members to see if they could take in the cat, but nobody in the family could take her. Family members gave Best Friends their blessing to adopt out the cat, who had someone waiting for her. The pilot who rescued her from the canyon would now rescue Mirage a second time and give her a forever home!
Kellie B. Gormly / Cats.com
“I’m really glad there was some divine intervention or whatever it was that day that brought Mirage to us,” Tugaw says. “It was meant to be, for sure.”
Tugaw brought Mirage to her home in West Haven, Utah, which is about 5.5 hours from Best Friends. She joked with her coworkers about Mirage’s good luck: “She’s lucky that the crazy cat lady of the crew is the one to show up to rescue her!”
Indeed, Mirage – whose mom changed her name to Mira, as an abbreviation of the miracle she is – joined Tugaw’s household in May, about a month after the April accident and rescue, with three other animals. She now lives with 7-year-old Bengal cat brothers – Max and Milo – and a German Shepherd named Xerxes.
For the first week, Tugaw kept her new cat in a separate room, then let the household pets sniff each other through the door. Once Mira came out to mingle, she became the boss, as female cats tend to do. Milo and Max took to their new sister, whom Tugaw describes as “sweet and sassy.”
“She’s very needy and likes to come lay on my chest,” she says. “She purrs a lot. She is a very people-oriented cat.”
Surprisingly, Mira doesn’t show much sign of lingering trauma a few months after her spring ordeal – at least, emotionally. She does seem to have slight hearing loss, and her teeth are still broken from the fall. Mira, who may need dental surgery, is also too skinny and working on gaining weight.
Kellie B. Gormly / Cats.com
Otherwise, Mira seems to be a fairly healthy and happy cat. She doesn’t hide, and she is not scared easily.
“She comes straight out and wants to greet everyone,” Tugaw says.
Tugaw looks back at the ordeal with amazement and gratitude for how everything fell into place for this poor cat, and how Mira found a second chance to live out her years in a loving home.
“I definitely wasn’t looking for another cat at the time, but it’s working out great,” she says.
In a sweet story Best Friends posted about Mirage’s journey, the rescue characterized it this way: “Mirage’s journey is a reminder that even in the darkest moments, love can light the way to a new beginning.”
Indeed. And we hope that more lucky cats find such fortune after a tragedy.
