A witness has described the moment that a dog plunged 70-feet off the side of a cliff after chasing a deer – and the complex two-hour rescue that saw it winched to safety and reunited with its owner.
Winston the German Pointer-cross fell onto the rocks at Findon Ness, Aberdeenshire, after visiting the beauty spot with his owner for the first time.
Catriona Boyle, 19, a student nurse, was walking her own dog when the drama unfolded on Monday night.
She said the dog lay motionless on the rocks for more than 20 minutes while its frantic owner looked on from above.
The owner, from the Cove area of Aberdeen, considered scaling down the steep cliff face to get Winston after he fell at around 9.30pm.
Ms Boyle and her boyfriend telephoned HM Coastguard for help.
She said: ” The dog was chasing a deer but the deer darted away and the dog kept going.
“The dog obviously hadn’t realised what was ahead and kept running.”
Winston could not be seen below for some time with the owner desperately running over the cliffs to find him.
Ms Boyle added: “We thought he was in the water or had disappeared. My dad and a couple of other guys from the village then spotted him down at the bottom of the cliff.
“The dog was lying there and everyone was worried as he was not moving.
“After around 20 minutes we could tell he was awake and could see him raising his head.”
HM Coastguard mounted a sophisticated rescue with one crew member abseiling down the point to reach the dog as seven others remained on the cliff top. Two RNLI boats were also positioned in the bay as back-up.
Winston was raised to safety in a specially made courier-style bag lifted to the clifftop on a network of ropes.
A spokesman for the coastguard said that a cliff rescue crew was assembled given the difficult terrain and the failing light.
Ms Boyle, a student nurse at Robert Gordon University, who lives near Findon Ness, said: “The owner was in such a state, he really was. He was so worried for the dog and it was amazing to see them reunited. It didn’t look injured, just a bit weary.
“Afterwards, the guy was so appreciative he was hugging people and saying thank you to everyone. The rescue was completely impressive and the rescuers deserve so much credit.”