Loggers expect to find things when they cut down trees. Bird nests and objects stuck in branches seem inevitable, but a mummified dog in the middle of a tree is not.

But that’s exactly what a crew of loggers from the Georgia Kraft Corp. discovered while felling a tree in the 1980s.

Loggers were working in a grove of chestnut oaks in southern Georgia when they came across a most unusual sight.

Stuckie, as the dog is affectionately known now, is still stuck in his tree more than 50 years later.

After cutting the top of the tree and loading it onto a truck for transport, a crew member happened to peer into the hollow trunk.

Inside he found the perfectly mummified remains of a dog, staring at him, its teeth still bared in a fight for survival.

Experts who studied the carcass concluded that the puppy was most likely a hunting dog from the 1960s, which had chased something like a squirrel through a hole in the roots and into the center of the hollow tree.

But the higher the dog climbed, the narrower the tree became. Based on the position of the dog’s legs, experts believe he kept climbing until he got stuck. Unable to turn around, the dog died.

However, thanks to a perfect set of circumstances, even though she was dead, she was not forgotten.

Normally, a dog that dies in the wild succumbs to decomposition and is eaten by other hunter-gatherers.

However, because the dog was dead inside a tree, it was unlikely that other animals would be able to reach it – and, due to the height of the body, it was unlikely that other animals would be able to smell it either.

Additionally, the type of tree the dog had lodged in was particularly suited to the natural mummification process.

Chestnut oaks contain tannins, which are used in taxidermy and tanning to treat animal hides so they don’t rot. The tannins from inside the tree seeped into the dog and kept it from rotting inside.

The dry environment inside the trunk also provided shelter from the elements and absorbed moisture from the carcass. Air drawn into the tree from the base created a sort of vacuum effect, further aiding the drying process.

After finding the mummified puppy, the loggers decided to take it to a museum, to show this rare sight to the world.

The dog, now affectionately known as “Stuckie,” resides at the Southern Forest World museum, still locked in his wooded tomb and on display for the world to see.