Team's dramatic rescue of huge dog injured at the top of a mountain
After a dog grew tired walking down a mountain and collapsed, a rescue team embarked on a mission up England’s highest peak to save him.
Daisy, a St Bernard who weighs 55kg, was with her owners coming down Scafell Pike when she collapsed on Friday.
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team (Wasdale MRT) was contacted by Cumbria Police and the rescue team didn’t think twice about the operation.
“At Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team we recognise that our mission ‘To save life and alleviate distress’ extends further than just the visitors and the local community who visit or live within our area of responsibility,” the team wrote on their Facebook page.
According to Wasdale MRT, Daisy’s owners were unable to get the dog down themselves. They said she was showing signs of pain in her rear legs and was refusing to move.
The team was quick to mobilise after receiving the call and started planning for the rather sensitive mission, involving both West Lakeland Veterinary Group and Galemire Veterinary Hospital.
Wasdale MRT sought out advice from vets regarding how to relieve the pain, the “possible issues specific to that breed of dog” and how to best handle what could be a very stressful situation for Daisy.
As Wasdale MRT made their way up the mountain, her owners kept her hydrated and fed.
When the team reached Daisy and her owners, they carefully introducing themselves to her, not wanting to cause the dog any more distress.
“Having team members with their own pampered pooches at home and also our very own much adored search dog Jess, we recognise the distress that both an animal can feel and also that of their owners,” Wasdale MRT wrote on Facebook.
The rescue team also gave Daisy a few treats so they could assess her condition and give her analgesia for the pain she was in.
She was then loaded onto a stretcher and quickly got moving as the weather was starting to “deteriorate”.
“A few different tactics needed to be tried until both Daisy and her stretcher bearers were all satisfied and progress down-hill could be made,” Wasdale MRT said on Facebook.
“It had become quickly apparent that Daisy’s cooperation was going to be essential if we were to make progress as Daisy made sure we knew that if she didn’t want to do something, she wasn’t going to do it.”
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It took a little persuasion and arranging for the stretcher to be a little more “dog friendly” and a few treats, but the team was able to get Daisy settled and she soon had her chin resting on the head guard.
The rescue team had to readjust Daisy a few times on the stretcher, but said all over, it wasn’t that different from a human evacuation, which Wasdale MRT has done “hundreds of times before”.
The rescuers also reported Daisy was in “high spirits” the morning after the rescue, having had a good night’s sleep “snoring a little louder than usual”.
“She apparently feels a bit guilty and slightly embarrassed about letting down the image of her cousins bouncing across the Alpine snows with barrels of brandy around their necks,” Wasdale MRT said.
Not only did the group thank West Lakeland Veterinary Group and Galemire Veterinary Hospital for their “invaluable support”, they also thanked Daisy on their Facebook page for being the “perfect casualty” that was so well behaved.
The isn’t the first time Daisy had been rescued. Just a few months ago her current owners adopted her after she had a “hard start to life”.
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