A woman enjoying a walk along the north side of the gorge here helped to rescue a dog from a cliff.
Donna Ross was walking along the cliffs of the popular park when she “heard a wailing sound.”
She said it sounded like the animal needed help, but when she looked over the cliff, she could not hear anything.
Instead of giving up, though, Ross called the Grand River Conservation Authority, which owns the park, but found she was having phone problems.
So, she called the county OPP, and was also going to return home to get her husband, Peter Schmidt to come and search.
Ross said that she soon received a call from the GRCA’s Dan Morden, who went out to search by walking along the south side of the gorge, but he “saw and heard nothing.”
But Morden did not give up. He went back along the north side of the river and checked from there, and on a ledge he saw a German Shepherd.
Morden called the fire department, which arrived with ropes, harness and a muzzle.
Volunteer firefighters rapelled down the cliffs and rescued the animal.
Fire Prevention Officer Tom Mulvey said in an interview that the department trains for such rescues, and is pleased to rescue animals, too.
He figures the dog slid down the cliff and landed on the ledge, and was unable to climb back up. “It would be a scary thing,” he said. “We have no idea how long it was down there. It was pretty cold and hungry.”
The dog was turned over to Jo-Alan Animal Care Services , which is the township’s dog control. It had no collar or tag.
Ann McKeen, of Jo Alan, said in an interview that the dog was “pretty traumatized” over the incident. She added no-one claimed the German Shepherd cross, tan with black markings, an unneutered male, three to five years old.
As for Ross, she was impressed with all the agencies that were involved in the rescue. She said everyone took the plight of the dog seriously, and that Morden could have given up after searching the south side of the gorge, but he did not. She added that when the dog was rescued and placed in the van, it was heated and the dog fell asleep immediately.
