Springer Spaniel falls 300ft from cliff top and lives
It seems that every few months we’re treated to a story of a dog that manages to fall of a cliff and survive, and it’s usually a spaniel! Last summer saw two dogs fall of a cliff, one was saved by his collar and the other, the spaniel, fell off the same cliff twice.
This time a springer spaniel has fallen off a 300ft cliff into the sea while she was chasing a seagull. Don’t panic though, as this springer spaniel, named Poppy, is fine and was rescued by a lifeboat and its crew.
The incident happened in Newhaven, East Sussex, as one of the lifeboat members, Gavin Butcher, explained:
She was shivering – she was cold and nervous but apart from that she was as good as gold.
Myself and another crew member have both got springer spaniels ourselves so we were very relieved.
After falling 300ft off the cliff, and failing to catch the seagull, Poppy swam ashore and awaited rescue.
At the time of the accident Poppy was being walked by Lia Markwick and her boyfriend Stephen Winslade. There was almost a tear in the family as Poppy actually belongs to Lia’s brother Ben and his girlfriend Kelly Ixer. Had Lia not returned with their beloved dog things could have gone sour, but luckily, thanks to the RNLI, Poppy was rescued safe and sound.
Mr Winslade explained what happened:
She is really well trained and well behaved but I think she ran so fast there was no chance of her stopping.
I threw myself down and looked over the edge and saw her paddling.
I could see there was a beach she was heading for.
When Poppy hit the water and started to paddle, a lifeboat was launched from the beach at the foot of the cliff.
Lifeboat crew member Gavin Butcher, who saved Poppy, had some words of advice for dog owners following the incident:
Springer spaniels tend to get excited and I believe she was chasing a seagull at the time.
That’s why we always recommend keeping dogs on a lead on the cliffs.
The moral of this story is to not let dogs chase anything near the edge of a cliff, particularly not things that can fly.
