The owner of a dog rescued from a Colorado fourteener last month after he had to abandon her to help a friend down the mountain has agreed to give the 5-year-old pooch to one of her rescuers.

Anthony Ortolani, 31, faced charges of animal cruelty for leaving his German shepherd/Rottweiler mix, Missy, behind on the saddle between Mount Bierstadt and Mount Evans.

He will plead guilty to a less-serious violation of a Clear Creek County ordinance, said his lawyer, Jennifer Edwards, founder and attorney with the Animal Law Center.

Missy was stranded for eight days before rescuers found her bloodied and close to death on the ridge. Ortolani received death threats after the story broke, he said Sunday. The threats have made him concerned for his family and for Missy as well, he said.

Discussions leading to the plea bargain included talk of his giving up the dog, said Edwards, but are not the reason for his surrendering the animal.

“I don’t want to give her up — I love her — but those people risked life and limb to get her out of there, and that has got to be worth something,” he said.

Ortolani was climbing with the 19-year-old son of a friend.

Bad weather was moving in, and the canine, whose feet were blistered, was unable to walk.

When his climbing companion’s water supply broke, Ortolani decided it was time to come down. The two men tried to carry the 112-pound dog over the rocks for two hours.

He decided to leave her there and help his partner down, he added. Ortolani called a friend who contacted the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office but was told the region was too dangerous and that the rescue doesn’t rescue animals.