ST. GEORGE — A dog was safely rescued after falling 50 feet in a canyon in the backcountry of Grand County last weekend.
Personnel from Grand County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue were called to the dog’s location in Long Canyon north of Cisco in the early morning hours of Nov. 3.
“Nika,” the 6-year-old female collie, fell about 50 feet from a cliff near the head of the canyon, according to a news release issued Friday by Grand County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue.
Crews determined the dog was in stable condition, but her retrieval would require a technical rope rescue. Since it was still dark, they decided to wait until sunrise before attempting the rescue.
At first light, crew member Nadi Ardalan rappelled to the dog’s location. Crews rigged a dog carrier onto a rescue basket and lowered it down to Ardalan. Nika was placed in the carrier and slowly raised to the top of the cliff.
“One of the tricky parts of this rescue was getting Nika into the crate — butt-first finally worked out,” Ardalan said in the news release.
The dog appeared to be in “very good shape” after her rescue, according to the news release, escaping the ordeal with minor injuries.
“This was such a team effort,” Ardalan said, “thanks to Micah Johnson, Monica Holyoak, Kory Meidell, Frank Mendonca and Jim Webster.”
Nika has since returned to her home in Salt Lake City.
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Great rescue. those S&R folks are awesome …great pictures