Dog winched to safety after Highlands cliff fall

Cooper the Collie, who rescued after a 20ft cliff fall. Picture: Hemedia

Cooper, an eight-year-old border collie, was rescued after plunging onto a small ledge above a steep drop at the Falls of Foyers.

The Inverness coastguard were called to rescue the dog, who came through the ordeal unscathed apart from a small cut near his eye.

Cooper’s owners, Steven McDonald and Amanda Walmsley, from Glasgow, were holidaying in the Inverness area.

Cooper is reunited with his owners. Picture: Hemedia

Miss Walmsley said: “We were walking at the falls at about 11.30am when Cooper got a bit ahead of us. We had three dogs with us and then suddenly we only had two.

“We walked further up to try and see where he had gone and then we heard crying”

She added: “We walked back down to the viewing platform and he was 20 foot down on a ledge. It was an overhang with trees and bushes, and below it was a drop to the water.”

Mr McDonald raised the alarm with staff at a nearby shop, who called the Scottish SPCA, who in turn alerted the coastguard, fire service and police, who were on the scene by 1.50pm.

Andy Sutherland, station officer for Inverness Coastguard, said: “We did a standard rope rescue where we put a technician - who is also a Scottish SPCA senior inspector - down to the dog and got a special bag that we put the dog in.

“The dog was a bit scared while he was at the bottom, but once we put him in the bag he was grand.”

Miss Walmsley added: “Cooper has a small cut to his eye and is tired and hungry, but we are just glad he is ok”