Dog survives 100FT fall of cliff
Published: August 23, 2006
A BORDER collie has amazed rescuers by surviving a 100ft plunge down cliffs in Caithness.
Six-year-old Scrappy was chasing rabbits near his farm home, just south of Wick, when he fell into the sea.
He managed to swim ashore before scrambling on to a ledge and taking refuge in a cave.
Scrappy then spent two nights in the cave before being rescued by lifeboatmen.
Wick lifeboat was returning from Helmsdale following a routine exercise when they received a radio call from Aberdeen Coastguard.
They were sent to a position two miles south of Wick where some tourists had reported hearing a dog barking below the cliffs.
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The crew spotted Scrappy in a cave at the bottom of cliffs and they then launched an inflatable boat which went into the cave where the dog jumped onboard.
The sheepdog was then taken to Wick harbour where he was reunited with his overjoyed owner, a farmer.
Ian and Angela MacKenzie, of Harden Farm, Wick, yesterday spoke of their delight at the safe return of their dog.
Scrappy, so named for his early habit of getting involved in fights with other dogs, is a seasoned rabbit hunter.
Ian, 60, said that when Scrappy went out on Friday, it was very misty. He believes this may have caused him to go over the edge, below the rifle range at Oldwick and opposite the ruins of the Old Man of Wick.
Lifeboat coxswain Ian Cormack reckons the dog fell off the sheer cliffs and straight into the water.
He said: “If he had hit rocks on the way down, I think that would have been the end of the story.
“In that sense, he was dead lucky.”
The alert was eventually raised by holidaymakers out for a walk on Sunday afternoon who heard yelping from the bottom of the cliffs.
Ian said that as the lifeboat neared Oldwick, he and the rest of the crew could clearly see the dog and hear him barking near the mouth of the cave.
Crew members Colin Smith and Graham Cormack set off to rescue it in an inflatable.
Ian added: “As the inflatable neared the cave, the dog more or less jumped aboard.
“The dog was very glad to see us and he really enjoyed the Kit-Kat and the drink of water we gave him.”
After returning to the lifeboat station, Angela, 58, picked up Scrappy and reunited him with the six other dogs that live on the farm.
After a meal and a sleep, he was none the worse for his ordeal.
Ian said: “We’re amazed that he got back unscathed.
“I thought he would have damaged himself in some way but there was not a scratch on him.”
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