Fire crew rescues pet dogs after night stuck on cliff
Published: March 16, 2006
A PAIR of dogs found themselves at the centre of a riverside rescue drama yesterday after they escaped from their back garden and spent the night clinging to a cliff.
The akitas, a male and a female called Tish and Zeek were spotted cut off by the tide in Eastham, Wirral, early yesterday morning.
Firefighters launched a mission to save the animals and station officer Ben Fildes was winched down the four-metre drop to rescue the pair as onlookers feared they would be caught by the tide.
The first dog was carried up the cliff face in a large plastic bag but the second dog had to be coaxed into a cage with a tin of dog food. Firefighters yesterday said they had no idea how the animals got to the bottom of the cliff.
But the dogs’ owner, Freya Owen, admitted she and her husband Geoff had accidentally left the back gate open at their home in Eastham village. The couple only realised the dogs had escaped when they went outside to call them in, on Wednesday night.
Last night, with the two dogs finally back at home, she described her panic at losing them.
She said: “I was frantic. We phoned the police and went out looking for them but couldn’t find any trace of them. Then today we called the dog pound and they said they had them there.
“It was just such a relief when they said they had them there, but then when the man said there had been ‘an incident’ my heart leapt.
“And when he told me about them being rescued from the river by the fire brigade, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. You do not expect something like that.”
Ms Owen, of St John’s Road, said she was overjoyed to be reunited with her precious pets which she has owned for nine years.
“I’m so grateful to the fire service, and all the people who contacted them. Without them, I shudder to think what would have happened to them.”
Freya’s husband, Geoff, brought the two pets home from the Wirral Dog Pound. He said: “It was my own fault, I left the gate open. We had friends round and had let the dogs out in the back and then later we realised they were gone.”
The dogs were spotted early yesterday and the RSPCA said they received several calls from the public.
A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said: “Between 7-8am, we had people calling us. We contacted the fire service because we don’t have the facilities to get to where the dogs were.”
Firefighter Ben Fildes had climbed down the cliff to rescue the pets. The crew said they had no idea how the animals got to the bottom of the cliff.
Phil Byrne, crew manager at Bromborough fire station, said: “They appeared to be quite old. They were very tired and cold and wet. They looked as if they had been there all night, and might have been in the water. Nobody has any idea how they got there.”
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
If you like this, you'll love Good Animal News:
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: