This story has been updated with new contact numbers andcrash details

Salem volunteers are hoping drivers traveling Highway 22 near Detroit can help them locate a rescue dog wandering in the Cascade foothills for more than three months after surviving a car crash in mid-August.

Sitka, a 2-year-old Siberian husky, was saved from almost-certain death at a high-kill San Bernadino, California, dog shelter and was on his way to a rescue shelter in Bend when disaster struck.

The transporters driving Sitka and two other dogs crashed their vehicle near the Highway 22 bridge heading into Detroit. One dog died in the accident. Two dogs were recovered at the scene.

A passerby helped hold Sitka on a leash, but when emergency responders arrived, the dog panic and disappeared into the woods bordering Detroit Lake, where he's spent the last three months eluding rescuers.

He was seen as recently as Wednesday when an Oregon Department of Transportation employee spotted the black-and-white, blue-eyed dog trotting along Highway 22 near Big Cliff Dam.

Volunteers with the non-profit Lost and Found Pets of Salem Oregon are working with the Bend rescue to help bring Sitka home.

Lost and Found Pets of Salem Oregon, donated a dog trap and a trail camera, and volunteers have driven up daily to put meat in the trap along with providing another food source.

Cherry Collins, an administrator with the non-profit, said they've posted signs at trailheads and passed out 170 flyers over the weekend. She's hoping Sitka is spotted soon.

"Time is crucial," she said.

After they moved the trap inside the U.S. Forest Service compound at the Detroit Ranger Station, Collins was the only one able to enter the gated area.

She drove up every day with food and searched the side roads for any sign of Sitka.

A fundraiser to pay for gas, food and camera batteries raised $655.

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Volunteers watched on the trail camera as Sitka repeatedly outsmarted the trap, sneaking meat out and struggling free when he was caught.

The trap ensnared a black bear, but after months of daily trips, Sitka still evaded capture.

Huskies are incredibly bright, volunteer Carol Donahue said. And Sitka's past at as part a backyard breeding operation means he has faced neglect and little human interaction, making the rescue more difficult.

"He's in survival mode," she said. "He's scared."

Volunteers have avoided using nets or sedatives due to the heavily-wooded, rocky area.

Recently, Sitka stopped making appearances on the trail camera.

When the ODOT worker reported seeing the dog Wednesday near Big Cliff Dam, he was at least five miles away from the trap and camera.

Donahue thinks a larger animal, maybe a cougar, might have scared him away from the original area. But the new sighting also worries her. The highway there is dangerous for a dog, narrow and sandwiched between a cliff and the lake.

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Collins is hoping Sitka is spotted soon.

"We need sightings so we can figure out where he's moved to," she said.

Anyone with information about Sitka's whereabouts is asked to contact Collins at 503-510-1212 or the owner of the husky rescue, April Lane at 406-270-3903.

Those wishing to donate or learn more about Lost and Found Pets of Salem Oregon can visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LostAndFoundPetsOfSalemOregon/.

For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodwort@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-399-6884 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth