Cat Who Survived the 380-Foot Fall that Killed Her Owners Finds a New Home with Her Hero

“I’m so ecstatic to be taking Mirage home,” the pilot who rescued the 12-year-old cat said after adopting her

There’s a happy ending for Mirage, the 12-year-old feline who survived a dangerous fall in Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park, which killed her original owners in late April.

Chelsea Tugaw, the search and rescue pilot who recovered Mirage and her cat carrier after it tumbled 380 feet from the peak of Inspiration Point, has officially saved the cat twice.

Tugaw helped bring Mirage to safety on that fateful day in April. And in May, she adopted Mirage from the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, vowing to give the cat a safe and stable home.

“I’m so ecstatic to be taking Mirage home. I hope I can give her the perfect retirement life and let her be a nice lazy cat in her old age,” Tugaw said in a release shared with PEOPLE by Best Friends.

She continued, “I just hope she knows she’s going to a really loving home and that it’ll be her final home.”

Mirage was the sole survivor after her owners, Matthew Nannen, 45, and Bailee Crane, 58, crossed a safety railing at the overlook with the cat’s carrier and fell over the edge, according to reporting by KUTV. They are thought to have died on Monday, April 28, or in the early hours of Tuesday, April 29.

Speaking to Best Friends, Tugaw explained that rescuers initially thought that the carrier containing Mirage was a backpack, and were shocked when they discovered the cat had survived the fall.

“We couldn’t believe the cat was alive. I thought she was injured and was uncertain of her future,” she recalled. “It gave me a lot of comfort when I found out she was going to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary to get the help she needed.”

Shortly after Mirage’s rescue, Best Friends told us that the cat “was matted and a bit sore, but friendly upon examination.”

The organization added that she “weathered the fall fairly well.”

In their recent update, Best Friends revealed that Mirage had “a few broken ribs and teeth.” A specialty veterinary hospital in Las Vegas later diagnosed her with “fluid around her heart,” which was likely “caused by trauma from the fall.” Thankfully, Mirage made a full recovery..

Once Mirage recovered, but before placing her for adoption, Best Friends reached out to Nannen and Crane’s next of kin to see if they could adopt Mirage. The family could not take the pet in, and agreed that finding the pet a new home was the best for her future, leading Tugaw to adopt the feline.

“Despite surviving a 400-foot fall, this remarkable little cat never lost her gentle spirit,” Best Friends said in their initial statement.

“She’s a living miracle with a heart full of sweetness—still purring, still trusting, like nothing ever happened,” the organization added.

Speaking to KUTV, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said that “preliminary investigations have not been able to definitively determine the cause of the fall,” adding that they were “considering all possibilities.”