'I was so excited': Dog reunited with family 7 days after falling from cliff on Vancouver Island
A beloved pet that went missing in the Highlands area of Vancouver Island was found seven days later by an army of volunteers.
The mastiff-retriever cross, named Luna, was found desperately clinging to a narrow ledge on a cliff, and was reunited with her owner after a heroic rescue last month.
It's believed that Luna had chased an animal out of her yard and got lost, somehow falling off a cliff and landing on a two-foot wide ledge. She remained there, alone, as her owner and searchers frantically looked for her.
"It was terrible because it was getting colder and she always sleeps next to me or my daughter," said Saryta Schaerer, Luna's owner.
After she'd been missing for several days, there was a break in the case from the other side of Finlayson Arm.
Across the water, Ron Cheeke had heard Luna's cries for help.
Ron Cheeke is pictured. (CTV News)Cheeke decided to record the sound and notify the pet rescue group ROAM. He even went so far as to search the area on boat to try to locate the exact source of the sound.
"I used a pot and pan, and every time I banged on the pot and pan the dog barked back," Cheeke told CTV News on Monday.
Eventually, after searching on both water and land, a team found the scared dog and used a harness to pull her back to safety and to her owner.
"I almost fell over when I saw her, it was quite exciting," said Schaerer.
"I was so excited, she was too," said the dog owner. "Her butt was wiggling from left to right."
Cheeke says his own dog had died recently and he was motivated to help.
"I lost my dog last year, so it was good," said an emotional Cheeke.
"It's good to see it back with its owners," he said.
ROAM volunteer Andy Carswell says seeing the reunion was thanks enough for all of the days spent searching.
"There's no feeling like it. When you're involved with this and you get the owner back with the pet, it's worth all the money in the world," he said.
Carswell also has a message for other pet owners if their animal goes missing.
"Your dog's out there, it's just a matter of time until we get her," he said.
"Sometimes they come back in an hour, sometimes it's a day, sometimes its seven, like Luna," he said. "Just don't give up, have faith."
He added that Luna didn't give up while trapped alone in the cold for seven days, and that pet owners shouldn't give up on their animals as well.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.