A new safety warning has been issued to dog owners this weekend after Burnham-On-Sea Coastguards and a lifeboat crew were called out to rescue a stranded pet at Brean Down on Saturday afternoon (April 16th).
Coastguards received a 999 call from a walker who had lost his dog, called Woody, off the southern side of Brean Down shortly after 5pm.
A Weston lifeboat was also paged and once on scene they liaised with the owners to establish the location of the dog, which was perched on a small outcrop of rocks, as pictured above.
“It was decided that the lifeboat was the easiest means of extraction for Woody and the RNLI crew maneuvered their boat in and managed to get him aboard,” said a Burnham Coastguard spokesman.
“They brought him around to the northern side to a set of steps which are part of the fort grounds, where Woody was handed over to two of our team members in lifejackets and returned to their grateful owners.”
He added: “The owners did the right thing in not trying to self-rescue the dog since the rocks around that area are very dangerous.”
“The very steep and uneven ground can easily cause people to trip and fall. Although this had a good outcome, we can’t stress enough to people to keep their dogs on a lead on high ground.”
“Often the first thing we hear when we turn up is ‘our dog never runs off’ but even the most obedient dog will chase something – it’s their natural instinct, so please keep your dog safe.”
RNLI cewman Paul Sargent added: “This was a positive outcome to a potentially life threating situation for the dog. We would like to remind dog owners that if this does happen to them not to enter the water, call 999 and ask for assistance. Entering the water has a extremely high chance of making any situation worse.”
Weston Coastguards were also paged amid concern that a cliff rescue may have been required.
The National Trust, which oversees Brean Down, installed warning signs at the bottom of the steps and path onto the rocky outcrop, as pictured below, several years ago but the cautionary message is often ignored.
It’s the fourth dog rescue of the year so far there after a series of incidents where pets have had to be rescued.
Also see:
Burnham Coastguards rescue dog after cliff fall at Brean Down
