Rescuing Louie the Jack Russell from a big tumble

At 14:46 on Sunday 16th July Moffat MRT were contacted by Police Scotland to assist in the search and rescue of Jack Russell Louie after he took a fall down the Grey Mare’s Tail near Moffat.

The famous waterfall is one of the highest in the UK plunging over 60m into the valley below. Louie was last seen tumbling down the hillside before disappearing out of sight.

A total of 15 team members attended the callout, most of whom were half way down Criffel near Dumfries at the time on a training exercise!

3 team members were deployed initially to locate the dog and plan the best way to access him safely. Once Louie was spotted in one of the lower pools having fallen the full length of the waterfall, the team set up a rope system to lower a single team member with our specialised Lyon animal rescue bag (purchased following the rescue of the last dog who had taken a tumble into the Tail) where he was secured and placed onto the bag.

Now joined by additional team members, Louie was transported back to the car park using the rope system and our rescue equipment designed specifically for accessing the lower pools of Grey Mare’s Tail.

Louie was pulled out of the bottom of the waterfall alive and was very pleased to be reunited with his owner. Although they were not local to the area, the team provided them with details of a local vet they could contact to have Louie checked over after his ordeal.

The owner did the right thing contacting the Police and so Mountain Rescue to ensure the search and rescue was carried out in the safest way possible.

We wish Louie all the best in his recovery!

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