A dog missing for three days was found and rescued after he was spotted on drone footage. Woody the cocker Spaniel took a tumble off a 150ft edifice while chasing birds and his desperate owner couldn't find him.
He hadn't been seen for three days until a local woman thought she heard barking near the coastal path at Dannonchapel, Cornwall. Local farmer Richard Pennington used a drone to find him inside a steep-sided cove then raised the alarm to the rescue services.
His footage then showed Woody being rescued by Port Isaac RNLI on April 11. Richard, a 46-year-old diary farmer said: "Everyone involved was amazed and delighted that it was such a happy ending.
"Due to the size of the swell the crew of the lifeboat were the ones that deserve the praise. I had a thick winter coat on and a woolly hat!"
Crew member Ben Spicer said: “Woody gave us a good run around to start off with as he was understandably distressed, cold, tired and hungry. The cove was in a very awkward position. It was pretty rocky and there was a fair bit of swell too.
“Woody must have fallen down a hell of a way, it’s amazing how resilient dogs are. It felt fantastic to get Woody out of there and back to his owners.
“I can only imagine how horrid it must have felt not knowing his circumstances over those days.”
Woody was reunited with his owners in Wadebridge on April 11. Woody’s owner, Jon, said: “It was absolutely horrendous.
''We were devastated because he’s only nine months old and we had no idea that we were ever going to see him again.
“We felt sick to the stomach going back without Woody. Then we had a phone call telling us that a dog had been heard barking down a cliff.
“Words can’t express how delighted and overjoyed we were. When we first saw him, he was so shell-shocked we had to sit calmly with him on the tailgate and just stroke him.
“The whole thing is a miracle: it’s amazing that he survived the fall, the couple of nights alone and that he was rescued. How on earth?
“We can’t thank the RNLI crew enough. We’ve always donated to the RNLI.
"I’ve been a Shoreline member for years and when my wife’s father died, we donated as well, never knowing that we would need them to rescue our dog.”
Ben added: “It was a great team effort with multiple organisations involved, Cornwall Search Dogs, DogLost Cornwall, Boscastle CG and the RNLI all working harmoniously and achieving a positive outcome.
“It could have very easily gone the other way for Woody.”
- When visiting the coast with your dog, the RNLI advice people to:
- Keep dogs on a lead if you’re close to cliff edges or fast flowing rivers.
- If your dog goes into the water or gets stuck in mud, don't go after them. Move to a place your dog can reach safely and call them.
- If you're worried about your dog, call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard.
