The other day, a driver in Los Angeles, California, was leaving the highway when they noticed a pair of pointy black ears poking up from the foliage lining the exit ramp. The ears slightly resembled those of a coyote — a native species in California. But when the animal picked her head up seconds later, the driver realized she wasn’t a wild creature at all.

Suzette Hall

The dog, a black German shepherd mix, stared back at the passing cars with a look of despair and hopelessness. In the few weeks she lived there, most cars had raced past her without stopping — but this driver refused to ignore her. They quickly posted her location on social media, and a group of local dog lovers soon showed up to help.

“[E]veryone came out trying to get her,” Suzette Hall, found of Logan’s Legacy 29, wrote on Facebook.

Suzette Hall

Sadly, their well-intentioned efforts spooked the dog, who bolted from her spot on the exit ramp for the first time in weeks. When news broke out about a severe traffic accident on the highway the next day, the group of rescuers feared the worst.

“There was a bad accident on the freeway, and we held our [breaths] that she had not been killed,” Hall wrote. “Or even that she had ended up in the wrong hands. Both [the] North and South exits were closed for days.”

Suzette Hall

Hall kept in close contact with neighbors in the area, hoping the pup would eventually return to her spot unharmed. A few days later, she received a relieving and adrenaline-inducing text.

“This morning, I got a message that she was back,” Hall wrote. “I raced up there.”

Hall rushed to the exit ramp, where she found the sweet shepherd curled up in her usual resting place. She didn’t want to scare the pup again, but with cars zooming around them, Hall needed to act quickly.

“It was so dangerous for her and for me,” Hall wrote. “I literally had to dodge cars to get to where she was at with my big trap. I was so scared, but I knew she was, too. I knew, one wrong move, and it wouldn’t be safe for either of us.”

Suzette Hall

Hall set her trap and waited in the distance. When she returned to the area, she was overjoyed to find her trap closed and occupied.

“[T]his sweet baby girl was safe in [my] trap,” Hall wrote. “I literally cried.”

Suzette Hall

Hall loaded the dog into her car and headed straight to Camino Pet Hospital, where the sweet girl would get a much-needed checkup. On the way there, Hall thought of a name that suited the pup’s resilience.

“We named her Miracle because she is nothing short of one,” Hall told The Dodo. “She’s still so scared of the world, but we will change that and make her happy again.”

Suzette Hall

Miracle eventually received a clean bill of health and was cleared to go home with her new foster mom, Jeanette. The sweet girl is still searching for a forever home, but she couldn’t be happier with her new life, far away from the busy highway she once frequented.

“The fast cars and sounds of the freeway are behind her,” Hall wrote. “The lonely nights, the worries [and] the fear are now part of her past. Tonight, she’s safe with her foster and sleeping from relief.”