Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District successfully rescued a dog that had been trapped on the face of a cliff for about six hours Monday night.
The dog was trapped on the cliff face across Highway 20 from the weigh station at Foster Lake.
Carl Ward, who was moving within the area, had stopped at the weigh station to tighten down his load, he said. “I was getting ready to get into my car. All of the sudden, I heard this little howl. That’s how I spotted it.”
Ward said he heard some crashing sounds about the same time, apparently the dog sliding and then falling from the top of the cliff to a ledge about two-thirds of the way to the top.
He called 911 at roughly 3:15 p.m.
The long-haired brown dog was difficult to spot at first, blending into the vegetation and the face of the cliff. It wandered back and forth along the ledge barking, whining and watching the people who were gathering below.
A Linn County deputy responded to the scene, followed later by Linn County Dog Control Director John Adair and Linn County Commissioner Cliff Wooten.
Sweet Home firefighters Jared Richey and Devon Bowen arrived and reached the top of the cliff from a nearby driveway. Adair provided an animal control pole to Bowen, who climbed down to the ledge with the dog.
Bowen used the pole to capture the snapping dog and then was able to lower the animal to the foot of the cliff a little after 9 p.m.
Bowen said he wasn’t worried about the dog biting him. With the pole, the dog couldn’t reach him.
“We’ll take him in and see if somebody’s going to claim him,” Adair said.
“I was actually kind of glad to see somebody came out to actually get him even though he was fighting a little bit,” Ward said after the dog’s rescue. “I was more worried the firefighter was going to get bit.”
If this is your dog, contact Linn County Animal Control at (541) 967-3925.