An adopted dog that went missing after a car crash near the Florida Everglades has been found safe following nine days of wandering alone.

“Theo went missing on April 20 after a van that was driving him to his new adoptive family crashed on U.S. 27 between Miami and Belle Glade,” Fox 35 reported Saturday.

A family from New Jersey recently adopted the pup during their visit to Florida when they found him abandoned in Miami.

“He CHOSE us. He hopped right into our car. He cuddled with us all night until the shelters were open where we could drop him off,” his adopter, Ashley Tirado, told the outlet.

She placed a hold on Theo so she would be first in line to adopt him.

“He has a rough past, and we found out from local rescues that his last owner had allowed her child to stab him in the eye with a stick, and then proceeded to dump him in a high abandonment area in Florida,” Tirado explained.

Ashley Tirado arranged for a transport company to bring Theo to New Jersey, but over an hour away from the shelter, the van ran off the road and fell on its side near the Everglades, an area filled with marshes and swamps, where alligators and other predators live.

A Facebook group was created to post updates when volunteers went out to search for Theo and on Thursday, they found him.

Tirado shared photos of the volunteers with the dog, writing, “Theo has been found. He is safe. He is SO SO lucky to have this team of amazing women who did what they did”:

According to Tirado, her pup is healthy and she could not thank the volunteers enough for working so hard to find him.

“We are so grateful for the support Theo has received through this. He is FOUND and FINALLY our tears can be tears of joy!!!” she told Fox 35.