Surfboard rescue of dog on cliffs

Summa Callaghan, 23, was on duty at Crantock Beach near Newquay when her rescue team were alerted by a couple whose dog had slipped down a cliff.

After a fruitless search in a rescue boat Ms Callaghan took her surfboard and spotted the dog, clambered up the cliff, and took it aboard.

She then paddled to safety, balancing herself and the dog on the board.

The incident happened last Thursday when an elderly couple alerted lifesavers.

'Hates water'

After a 45-minute hunt of the cliffs around Pentire Head, Ms Callaghan returned to the search on a hunch.

"There's only so much you can see from the boat, and I knew I would be able to get closer to the cliffs on the board. There are all sorts of nooks and crannies we could not see.

"When I saw him he was about 2m up in a gulley.

"I just parked the board on the cliffs and took hold of him."

Jasper the whippet proved quite a handful for Australian Summa, who is travelling around the world.

'No big deal'

She said: "He hates water, so he was very reluctant to get on board at first, but I managed to hold him tight."

It was her first dog rescue, although she has saved a few turtles in her homeland.

She added: "It was really no big deal. I'm just relieved it was a happy ending.

"They owners were in tears when I brought their dog back because two other dogs of theirs had been run over recently."

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