A beloved dog missing for 48 hours was dramatically rescued after being found on a cliff edge at a popular Lanarkshire beauty spot.
Bella the ginger cockpaoo ran off after being spooked by another dog while out walking at Chatelherault Country Park in Ferniegair, Hamilton, last Wednesday afternoon.
Her frantic owners Rebecca Hannan and Lloyd Swan immediately organised a search party among friends and family and put out a public appeal on social media for people to kindly look out for their pet pooch if in the area.
Their appeal garnered dozens of offers of help, with one man even bringing along a drone to search for Bella from the air.
But as the hours turned to days and with no confirmed sightings of Bella, Rebecca and Lloyd were becoming increasingly concerned.
So much so, Lloyd and his good friend Paul Hainie once again decided to retrace Bella's previous route through the park on Friday afternoon, in a final hope of finding her in the area. To their surprise the pair could faintly hear a dog barking and sounding distressed in the distance and followed the noise to a cliff edge, 100 yards off the main trail.
And when Lloyd cautiously looked over the edge, a terrified Bella was clinging to a small ledge below.
Rebecca explained: "Lloyd and Paul couldn't believe it when they found Bella on the ledge, having retraced that route many a time over the hours since her disappearance.
"They quickly tried to rescue her themselves but they realised that they were risking their own lives, so called in the emergency services for help.
"Unfortunately when the fire and rescue team assessed the scene they were unable to help but they called in a specialist rope access team from East Kilbride.
"There were about 10 fire officers on the scene but it was Gary from the rope team who went down the rock face to rescue Bella. Once lowered down he put her into a dog harness and they were both pulled back to safety and Bella was reunited with Lloyd and then myself back at the country house, where lots of people had gathered to see her and take photographs."
Apart from being dehydrated and a little hungry, after a visit to the vet the relieved couple were delighted to hear that Bella was in good health.
Rebecca added: "We assume Bella had been on the cliff edge the entire time and only decided to start making some noise as she was thirsty and tired!
"We would like to thank everybody who was out searching for Bella day and night, Fiona Halliday from the Lanarkshire dog trap and scan crew (lost dog charity), Hamilton fire service and the East Kilbride rope specialist team.
"A special thank you to Paul Hainie who was on the scene with Lloyd when they first found Bella, and put his own life at risk to get himself into a position to catch Bella in case she fell off the ledge.
"We can’t believe the response to finding Bella, if another dog goes missing we will be the first to join the search that's for sure."
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