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Sturdy Harry survives two days on
cliff
19.06.09
by Linda McGrory
HARRY the hound dog is glad to be home after being
trapped for two days on a 400ft sea cliff at Kinnego
Bay.
The plucky three-year old basset went missing on a
day out to the turf hill near Glenagiveney.
His owners Pat and Sally Murphy had almost given up
hope of finding their loveable pet alive. But he was
discovered 48-hours later, marooned on a ledge of
undergrowth after an 80ft fall, with a further drop
of around 320ft to the rocks below. Harry’s two-day
ordeal came to a dramatic end as night fell on
Tuesday when volunteers from Greencastle Coast Guard
abseiled down the cliff and gently winched him to
safety. Cork-born Pat explained: "We were out
bagging turf on the hill last Sunday and around 4
O'Clock we noticed Harry was missing. Because he's
so low to the ground, we just thought he was hidden
in the heather.
"He often makes his own way home from the hill so we
thought no more about it." When long-eared Harry
hadn't returned by Monday morning, however, the
Murphys became worried. Pat and a friend Neil
McSkeane went back up the turf hill calling for the
dog while Sally searched surrounding fields with
binoculars. |
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"We were getting
concerned when he hadn't returned by Monday night
and by Tuesday we thought we were looking for a
body," said Sally. Pat and Neil moved their search
to cliff-top fields around a mile from the Murphy
home on Tuesday afternoon when the stricken dog
heard his owner's voice and began to bark.
"We couldn't believe it. Harry has a distinctive
deep bark but it was weaker than usual," said Pat.
While he couldn’t see the dog, he remained there to
calm and reassure him while his friend ran to raise
the alarm. Gardai in Buncrana were initially
contacted before someone suggested calling
Greencastle Coast Guard who scrambled at the remote
coastal location around 7.30pm. ‘Operation Hound
Dog’ had begun. |
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"The volunteers told us
the rescue mission would be a good training exercise
for them. Someone got a big tarpaulin-type bag to
put Harry in. Two of the Coast Guard volunteers
abseiled down the cliff to get to him while four
more operated the pulley at the top of the cliff.
The two abseilers manoeuvred Harry into the bag
while their colleagues slowly winched the
seven-stone canine up the cliff for an emotional
reunion with his owners.
"He was so delighted to be |
free he
ran around jumping up on everybody. It was our best
'when Harry met Sally moment ever'," quipped Sally.
While the happy hound was not physically injured, he
lost a lot of weight on his perilous perch through
lack of food, dehydration and anxiety.
Pat and Sally - parents of three sons in their 30s -
who retired to the spectacular location from Cork
city eleven years ago, have since been spoiling
their great survivor. "We'll never know how he
managed to survive that fall but we're extremely
grateful to the Greencastle Coast Guard team who
were so brave going down the cliff and to our
friends for helping in the search," added Sally. |
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