SELIGMAN, AZ — Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office says a 2-year-old boy from Seligman, Arizona, has been found safe after he was reported missing on Monday.
Officials say the child was found around 8:20 a.m. Tuesday. YCSO says just before 5 p.m., Monday, the boy wandered from his home and was reported missing.
More than 40 search and rescue members, several deputies, and DPS rangers were called to the property to search for the boy.
After a 16-hour search, a rancher, approximately seven miles away reported that a young child walked onto his property. When deputies arrived they identified the child as the missing Seligman boy.
During the overnight search, a DPS helicopter ranger spotted two mountain lions in the terrain on which the boy traveled.
The rancher who found the boy told authorities his dog, Buford, was patrolling the property when he spotted the boy and directed him to safety.
The boy told the rancher he slept under a tree, according to YCSO.
