When a boy with Down syndrome got lost in the woods this week, a pack of puppies came to his aid.

Kyle Camp, 10, went missing Tuesday night from his Hackleburg, Ala. home, setting off a frantic search that drew more than 150 volunteers from the small community.

When a searcher followed a barking dog through the woods near Camp’s house Wednesday morning, he found the boy wet and barefoot, flanked by four puppies who had apparently kept him warm through the night.

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“We don’t know what would have happened to him had the puppies not been with him,” Camp’s rescuer told NBC News.

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