Roughly a month after surviving a 380-foot fall in Bryce Canyon National Park that killed her owners, Mirage the cat has a new home.
According to Best Friends Animal Society, the elderly tabby has reunited with Chelsea Tugaw, the search-and-rescue helicopter pilot who helped rescue her.
Mirage was rescued April 29 near the bottom of Inspiration Point’s spires. That’s where her owners — Matthew Nannen, 45, and Bailee Crane, 58 — fell to their deaths. The Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said Nannen and Crane likely died early that day or late the day before.
Tugaw, who flies for the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Aero Bureau, said Wednesday that park rangers and Garfield County Sheriff’s deputies who first scanned the scene with binoculars thought Mirage’s pet carrier was a backpack.
Flying to recover the bodies, she said the steep angle of the slope prevented her from landing her helicopter, so the team sent a rescue specialist down. She said they were surprised to learn that the backpack was actually a cat carrier — and that the cat was still alive inside it.
(Best Friends Animal Society) At Best Friends Animal Society's sanctuary, Sarah Breeze and Kerry Eddy take an x-ray of Mirage, a female tabby found with her owners at Bryce Canyon National Park.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had that occur in the history of our Aero Bureau,” she said.
Once the cat was on the helicopter, Tugaw said she tried to elicit a response by talking to the cat and rubbing against the carrier. Mirage, however, stayed quiet.
The cat was first taken to Pawz Dogs boarding facility in Panguitch, and then transported 70 miles to Best Friends’ sanctuary in Kanab.
Along with broken teeth and ribs, Best Friends said staff members noticed respiratory distress that led them to find fluid surrounding Mirage’s heart. They sent her to a specialty veterinarian hospital in Las Vegas for treatment.
Tugaw, meanwhile, knew only a day or two after the rescue that she wanted to adopt the cat. She emailed Best Friends and expressed her interest.
Best Friends said they contacted the next of kin of Nannen and Crane, who gave the adoption their blessing.
When Tugaw once again saw Mirage to adopt her, she said the cat’s demeanor had changed.
“She was purring nonstop,” she said. “She was kind of acting her age, just wanting to take a nap.”
Now, Mirage lives with Tugaw, along with her two other cats and a dog — who all, she said, get along well with their new family member.
After the gruesome recovery that also became a cat rescue, Tugaw said Mirage brings her some comfort.
(Best Friends Animal Society) Mirage, a cat who was found on April 30, 2025, after apparently falling nearly 400 feet at Bryce Canyon National Park, at home with Chelsea Tugaw, a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot who helped find the cat — and who has now adopted Mirage.
“I think that’s one of the biggest reasons I was so drawn to wanting to adopt her,” she said. “It just kind of felt like there was a connection there.”
Best Friends said the staff named the cat Mirage because they found her survival unbelievable. Tugaw considered changing her name to Miracle, but decided Mirage had already stuck, and the two names were similar. Now, she calls her Mira for short.