Deputy Chad Wright is pictured with K-9 Link in 2017. P-J file photo by Eric Tichy

A K-9 with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office located a 6-year-old girl who had been reported missing and was later found stuck in a thick area of brush.

The child was uninjured following a nearly two-hour-long search Wednesday evening; she was later returned to her family.

Members of the Sheriff’s Office had been alerted around 7:45 p.m. for a missing girl from her Route 430 home in the town of Mina. Deputies conducted a preliminary search of the buildings on the property before K-9 Link was deployed for a general search.

Sheriff’s deputies were assisted in searching for the 6-year-old by firefighters from Findley Lake and Sherman as well as state Forest Rangers and Chautauqua County EMS.

About an hour into the search, K-9 Link located an odor trail and began tracking into a wooded area. In a news release, the Sheriff’s Office said the dog found the girl “stuck in a thick area of brush approximately 1/2 mile from the residence.”