By Jane Northrop
The Pacifica Tribune via The San Jose Mercury News
PACIFICA, Calif. — A couple of hikers heard the plaintive howling and crying of a dog stuck on a very precarious ledge a third of the way down the highest, steepest cliff between the Quarry and Mori Point last Monday morning.
After they determined fitness alone wasn’t enough to get them close enough to the dog, that they needed real equipment, they called to another hiker, Cathy Jensen, for suggestions.
“He was straight down there on the bluffs in the worst place he could be. There wasn’t any way to get to him. The trail they were on is not in a high-traffic area. It was really fortunate they were around to hear the dog,” Jensen said.
Jensen called Pacifica firefighers who promptly responded and spent the next three hours engaged in a dramatic cliff rescue involving multiple firefighters and equipment. They set up a rope and pulley system fastened to an all-terrain vehicle they drove to the site.
A firefighter they call “the dog whisperer” harnessed up and rappelled down the cliff. When he reached the dog, the dog became frightened and howled and barked and backed up on the ledge in an even worse position. The firefighter was afraid one wrong move was going to be the end of the dog, but he had an idea. He stretched his body out against the cliff hoping the dog would see that as a non-threatening move and relax. It worked. The dog ran right into the firefighter’s arms. After one step, however, the dog panicked again and the firefighter again had to lie up against the cliff face. Finally, drawing the pulleys up very slowly, the team completed the rescue.
“Our Pacifica firefighters did such a wonderful job. I was really impressed with what heroes they were and how they cared for the dog all through the rescue,” Jensen said. “All the guys were so sweet to him. The dog was giving kisses to everyone. I told the guys they were my heros.”
Once safely on top of the cliff, the firefighters were so moved by the brave little canine, they said they were tempted to nickname him “Cliff” and take him back to the fire station as a mascot. He was wearing a green harness but no ID. Instead, they turned him over to the Peninsula Humane Society where he was reunited with his family a couple days later.
He had been missing a week after he ran away, spooked by the fireworks on the Fourth of July.
The owners had been searching everywhere for him and were relieved they could take him safely home from the shelter and that miraculously, he had suffered no injuries during his ordeal.
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