When loggers in Georgia went to cut down oak trees, they never imagined what they would find. As they were going about their business they discovered a grizzly sight inside one of the hollowed out trees. It was the mummified remains of a hunting dog.

The loggers say they discovered the dog inside the tree when they cut off the end revealing what was inside the hollow tree trunk. They guessed that the dog was likely hunting a raccoon and chased it up inside the tree and got stuck.

Although they lost a bit of money by not cutting up the rest of the tree, the loggers couldn’t bring themselves to cut up the unique find. Instead, they donated the dog and tree to a local forestry museum named Forest World.

Stuckie, as the dog has become known, is now a popular attraction at the museum. People wonder how the dog’s remains stayed so intact and became mummified rather than decaying, but the museum has a very logical explanation. Several factors culminated to create the sight that we now see.

Stuckie was found in 1980 by loggers with the Kraft Corporation. He was some 28 feet up inside of the trunk of the tree. Forest World’s Manager Brandy Stevenson says the environment created by the tree is what mummified Stuckie instead of allowing him to decay.

She says because the tree was hollow it created a chimney like air draft throughout the tree keeping Stuckie from smelling and attracting insects and animals that would have fed off of his decaying body. This draft also caused his body to stay relatively dry in the humid Georgia climate. The tannin in the tree would have also helped absorb moisture creating a perfect environment for Stuckie to become a perfect preserved mummy.

While visitors often comment that they feel sorry for the poor old dog, Stevenson reminds them that he was likely a hunting dog that was doing what he loved to do. Stuckie’s story is a tragic but unique one and thus, he’s been a huge attraction since coming to the museum.