A man hears wild barking in quarry which sparks missing dog rescue in Connecticut.
The man stopped to listen in the darkness. The dog barking came from the quarry next to him on Lower Road. It sounded like a dog was deep down in the Specialty Minerals quarry. What should he do?
The man called North Canaan Animal Control and left a message. When Lindsay Burr got the message, she called John and Bobby Foley, the owners of the quarry. That Foleys drove to the quarry straight away and met Lindsay and her sister Ashley. They drove around looking for the dog using the highbeams of the truck. But the dog was nowhere to be seen.
Lindsay then called a volunteer drone operator called Brian Ohler. Using infra-red, he tried to get a heat signature from the dog. But there was nothing. In frustration the team left as it was getting late.
The next day, Lindsay Burr looked on Facebook and found that a small sandy white Terrier called Rippy had gone missing on Saturday May 4th. That meant that Rippy had been missing for five days. Could the dog barking in the quarry be Rippy?
Back at the quarry on the same day at the Specialty Minerals quarry, some of the workers said they could hear the dog barking. In Lindsay Burr’s own words:
“At noon the guys at the quarry went on lunch break and Bobby Foley heard him barking like crazy again in the same spot that we thought he was last night. He called me right away and I collected some items that I needed and headed right down.”
Lindsay Burr made emergency calls to the North Canaan Fire Company and North Canaan Ambulance. They came immediately and organised a rescue setup at the edge of the quarry.
A call was also made to the North West Regional Rope Rescue Team. The only way to get to the dog was by using ropes and rapelling off the side of the cliff. The descent was dangerous because of the erosion of the rock. It wasn’t going to be easy.
Two of the rope team members rappelled 50ft down the loose rocks. They came to a ledge where they found Rippy. He looked skinny and had wounds on his legs and torso. But they were able to capture him and put him in a plastic dog crate that was tied to a plastic scoop stretcher. They were then pulled up to safety.
“He is one very lucky dog to have survived a fall off one of those cliffs!! Other animals have not been that lucky!”
Lindsay Burr
Rippy’s rescue was a success. He was taken home to recover and be reunited with his mom. He then had a check-up with a veterinarian who found that he was in good condition considering the ordeal he had been through.
There were a crazy amount of people from different organizations who banded together to save Rippy:
- North West Regional Rope Rescue Team,
- North Canaan Fire Company,
- North Canaan Ambulance,
- North Canaan Animal Control,
- Specialty Minerals quarry workers,
- Volunteer drone operator, and
- Man walking alone at night.
They all showed that people are always willing to get together and use perseverance and skill to save a dog in distress.
