Brighton dog rescued days after falling from Cumbria cliff

The owners of a dog who fell about 360ft (109m) from a cliff and could not be found for three days say he is "lucky to be alive".

Daniel Rogers and Emma Charvet were walking near Helm Crag in the Lake District when Chilli disappeared.

The couple, from Brighton, launched a search, before he was found on a steep slope and finally rescued on Wednesday.

The nine-year-old pooch was badly injured but is expected to make a full recovery, they said.

They had almost reached the beauty spot just after 12:00 BST on Monday when Chilli, a crossbred retriever and springer spaniel, slipped from a ledge.

But due to the formation of the ridge, it was not clear where he had landed or whether he was still alive.

"There was just this dread," Ms Charvet, from the Fiveways area, told the BBC.

"I just said 'where's Chilli' and we were calling for him... people straight away were trying to help us."

Little did they know the dog had fallen about 30ft (9.14m) down the cliff, and then a further 328ft (100m) down mountainside, before landing in bracken.

A search was launched with the help of other walkers which yielded no results, before the pair took to social media desperate to raise awareness.

"I had spent the last two days sobbing, the worst thing was not knowing," Ms Charvet said.

"I was taunted by the idea of Chilli being alone on the mountain".

It was not until the third day a member of the public - an experienced climber - offered to help and carefully scale part of the cliff.

Within about 30 minutes he successfully located Chilli but it was clear he would be unable to retrieve him safely without external help.

Ms Charvet said: "I was watching with my binoculars and saw him [the climber] waving. My first thought was he found him dead but when he found him alive I was desperate to see him.

"I just felt so overwhelmed that I hadn't lost my dog, my beloved buddy."

The Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) were called to carry out a rope rescue, which took four hours to complete.

Ten volunteers helped secure the area before scaling down to retrieve Chilli.

MRT chair Phil Kirby said it was a "complex" rescue as the dog had ended up in a "precarious situation".

"We needed a serious rigging situation so that we could send somebody down to the dog and recover it," he said.

After being carried on a stretcher, Chilli was brought to safety before he was checked over by a team member from Oak Hill Vets, who was sent to the scene.

Mr Kirby said: "Our priority in situations like this is a human factor, if the dog goes missing the owners generally want to go and recover it which can put them into difficulties.

"On that basis we want to help the dog but want to ensure that the situation doesn't escalate. We'd ask owners to be very careful when they let dogs off the lead."

Ms Charvet and Mr Rogers have since praised the "incredible" support from members of the public and volunteers from the MRT.

They said although Chilli had suffered dehydration, broken toes, a head trauma, bruising and fly strike - when flies lay eggs in animal wounds - he is expected to recover.

"He wouldn't have survived another day," she added.

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