Dog leads owner to cat stuck 100ft down Cornish mine shaft

A lucky cat was rescued by firefighters after falling 100ft (30m) down a mineshaft in Cornwall - and it was all thanks to a quick-thinking dog.

After six days of searching, Mowgli's owner Michele Rose said she had "almost given up hope" of finding her missing pet.

But she said she saw her dog Daisy "going berserk", running in and out of woods near their home in Harrowbarrow.

Daisy's intervention led to the rescue of her feline friend, Ms Rose said.

Daisy guided her along a footpath toward the Prince of Wales old mine workings, she said, before "stopping dead in her tracks" next to the mineshaft.

"Daisy is a superstar, she's an amazing dog.

"Without Daisy doing that Mowgli could still be down there, that's for sure," Ms Rose said.

"She was persistent in making me follow her, it was amazing."

The RSPCA and Cornwall Fire and Rescue were called but it was "too dark" on the first night to access the mineshaft, the RSPCA said.

The next morning the team, led by RSPCA animal rescue officer Stephen Findlow, spotted Mowgli, who was 100ft down - but remarkably uninjured - and he was pulled to safety.

The family has another cat, Baloo, who greeted Mowgli after he was pulled up.

Ms Rose said she adopted kittens Mowgli and Baloo in December 2022 and oversaw a gentle introduction to Daisy, who was already resident.

She added: "Daisy was already a year old when the kittens arrived and they have all been inseparable ever since.

"She is quite matriarchal and puts up with them, they love her and she's very protective of them."

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