A trapped dog has been rescued from a near-vertical cliff face at Dreunkrans in Hermanus after an alert from a passing walker alerted a coordinated emergency response.
The mixed-breed male dog, whose owners remain untraced, was spotted on Thursday morning clinging to the rock face some distance below the cliff path. The alert came from a local woman who heard the animal barking whilst on her walk and raised alarm to the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).
NSRI Hermanus station commander Edrich Kotze said responders faced challenging terrain to reach the stranded animal.
“The dog appeared trapped on a steep incline, on the side of the cliff below the path,” Kotze said. “On arrival, we had to negotiate steep, barely accessible terrain to reach it.”
The rescue operation began on Thursday morning with NSRI crews working in coordination with the Hermanus Animal Welfare Society, which dispatched an animal handler to the scene.
Through careful manoeuvres over the difficult terrain, the teams managed to safely retrieve the dog and move it to secure ground within less than an hour.
The operation concluded at 10.26am.
The dog had shown no signs of injury and was handed over to the animal welfare handler for medical assessment and care. HAWS has since taken the animal into its care and rehabilitation programme while staff attempt to track down its owners.
Kotze praised the woman who first spotted the dog for her swift action. “She remained on scene and was instrumental in helping us locate and assist the animal,” he said.
The successful rescue highlights once again the value of public alert and inter-agency cooperation in animal emergencies. Anyone with information about the dog’s ownership is urged to contact the Hermanus Animal Welfare Society.
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