Dog Survives Two Weeks on a Dead Bird and a Nearby Waterfall

During a holiday cliff walk in Devon, Bush, the Staffordshire bull terrier disappeared.

Bush's owner, Mrs Brett, a magazine editor, thinks Bush ran over the edge of a cliff after chasing wild deer which veered off at the last moment. The Daily Mail reports that she plastered the area with posters after her dog disappeared. Two weeks later, she was told about a news report, reporting two climbers stranded near cliffs at Combe Martin, Llfracombe, who had been trying to rescue a dog from a ledge, 30m above the sea. Mrs Brett, 62 contacted the coastguard who called a nearby RAF airbase, whose crew carried out the dog rescue as a training exercise. The crew lowered winch man, Sergeant Mark Lean, 60m to reach the dog.

"Bush was very, very thin and his ribs were really sticking out."

Next to Bush, was a pile of crow's feathers, which he must have eaten, and luckily a small waterfall was nearby. Bush is recovering at a vet's surgery and will soon be reunited with Mrs Brett and her husband Hugh. She said

"It is such a relief she has been rescued. I never gave up hope of seeing her again and I am looking forward to picking her up as soon as she is strong enough to come home."