Fire Fighters Pull Dog to Safety

A 2-year-old pit bull mix who disappeared from its home about a week ago was found and rescued Tuesday by firefighters who went as far as repelling down a steep quarry to save her.

Workers at the Knife River Quarry in Gresham, Oregon first spotted the dog, Daisy, the day before, six days after her owner, Tammie Johnson, said her furry friend had gone missing, local ABC affiliate KATU reports.

On Tuesday afternoon emergency officials received a telephone call that a dog had fallen 50 feet or more down the quarry and was stuck on a ledge, still in desperate need of help.

Firefighters and a rescue team from the local Humane Society were called to the scene but had to first get permission from the quarry’s owner and the federal agency that oversees the quarry, the Mine Safety Health Administration, to enter the mine and start the rescue.

With permission granted, the team from the Humane Society made the first rescue attempt, trying to lure Daisy into a safe trap with food so that she could then be pulled up from the ledge.

When that proved unsuccessful, firefighters from the Gresham Fire and Rescue squad stepped in. Reports said they were working against the clock, trying to get Daisy out before fireworks from early Fourth of July celebrations would scare her and send her even farther down the gnarly 200 foot cliff.

Just before 10 p.m., Gresham firefighter Bob Chamberlin repelled down into the quarry himself to manually pull Daisy to safety. Chamberlin used another tactic to lure Daisy to come with him, a T-shirt.

“She was dug into the bank,” he said, according to KATU. “I took a T-shirt the Humane Society gave me – the owner’s T-shirt – as soon as she sniffed that she was right up against me and was ready to go.”

Back on more solid ground, Daisy was returned to her owner, Johnson, who told KATU she had spent a week posting flyers in her neighborhood in hopes of finding her missing dog but never expected she’d be found in such a dramatic way.

“I’m so excited,” Johnson said. “I just can’t believe she’s back, and I can’t believe she did this. It’s like, oh my God this is almost embarrassing.”

Daisy reportedly suffered only a bump on the nose through the whole ordeal. Pretty amazing if you ask me.

Firefighters Pull Dog to Safety