A 3-year-old boy was found alive after being lost in the woods in North Carolina for two days. He told his family that he was hanging out with a bear.
Casey Hathaway had wandered away from his grandmother’s yard in Ernul, North Carolina, Tuesday while he was playing with two other children. He was found alive just two days later near where he first vanished from after a massive search effort throughout the rural, wooded area had occured.
On Friday, his aunt, Breanna Hathaway, wrote on Facebook that her 3-year-old nephew was “healthy, smiling, and talking.”
“He said he hung out with a bear for two days,” Breanna Hathaway wrote. “God sent him a friend to keep him safe. God is good God. Miracles do happen.”
Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes said search and rescue crews found Casey after following up on a reported tip. The small boy was wet and cold and had been tangled in vines and thorn bushes.
“He hasn’t said a whole lot except when his little sister came in there he really brightened up then,” Hughes told reporters during a news conference Thursday night. “It was a very touching moment.”
The aunt, Breanna Hathaway, said that the family would set up a post office box to handle the outpouring of support for the 3-year-old, who spent the day at the hospital eating Cheetos and chicken nuggets and watching PAW Patrol.
She said Casey likes Batman, PAW Patrol, lady bugs, and Masha and the Bear, an animated series about a girl who lives in the forest and a father-like bear who keeps her safe.
“We appreciate the thoughts but we do want to recognize that everyone wants to get Casey a stuff little bear and although we absolutely love that remember that he can only home so many,” Breanna Hathaway wrote on Facebook.