A young puppy who ran away from her Idaho owner’s yard and wound up stranded on the side of a cliff, looking like a little white speck from afar, was rescued on Monday.
The puppy, a 6-month-old named Honey Bear, escaped from her owner’s yard on June 29, prompting the Wood River Fire & Rescue team to dispatch “eight dog-loving rescuers” to find the missing pet.
Honey Bear was missing for approximately five days before rescue crews located her on Della Mountain on July 3. Images taken from the rescue show how difficult it was for teams to spot the puppy among the vast and steep cliff edges.
“We don’t know exactly how Honey Bear got to where she was,” said Wood River Fire and Rescue officials. “All signs point to: She just kept climbing up the draw getting into steeper and steeper terrain, unable to retreat.”
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The team made its way to the top of the mountain via the Colorado Gulch and prepared for an approximately 800-foot descent using an anchor to lift the dog out of the precarious spot.
A rescuer named Eli McNees was lowered down on a cable where she found the dog “anxious, but happy,” the WRFR posted on Facebook.
Ron Bateman, fire chief for the WRFR, told the Washington Examiner that out of the 24 years of experience in search and rescue operations, this rescue was “the most satisfying ends to an incident that I’ve ever been a part of.”
Bateman said the rescue team was composed of “really experienced skiers” and are “incredibly talented in the backcountry.”
Erica Exline, who posted on social media to be the owner of Honey Bear, thanked the team for their heroism and bravery during the rescue mission.
“I am so humbled by what they did for my DOG,” Exline said in a Facebook post that Bateman showed in a screenshot to the Washington Examiner. “These heroes are dog lovers and they did not want to leave her alone for another night so they put their own safety ahead of my dogs!!!”
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The Washington Examiner contacted WRFR but did not immediately receive a response.
