A lifeboat crew rescued one dog before taking it on a mission to rescue another dog in separate call-outs off Cork this evening.
The first alarm was raised at around 5.20pm this evening after a dog made its way onto rocks below the popular Fuschia Walk in Courtmacsherry.
Its owners contacted the emergency services, and the Valentia Marine Rescue Coordination Centre tasked Courtmacsherry lifeboat to respond.
The crew set off in the all-weather lifeboat, the Sir Frederick Storey Cockburn, and were on scene within 10-minutes.
They launched their small rib to effect the rescue of cocker spaniel, Evie, from an inaccessible rocky area at the base of the popular walk.
The dog was being brought aboard the main lifeboat just as a second call came in from Valentia about a stricken pleasure boat, the 23-foot ‘Speedy Bettie’, nearby.
The vessel, which had suffered engine failure, was luckily just a few hundred yards away, off the rocks at nearby Woodpoint.
The lifeboat made its way to the vessel with Evie on board to find one man and his dog on board the stricken vessel.
The lifeboat crew, under coxswain Sean Farrell, took that vessel in tow and returned one man and his dog to base, before reuniting Evie and owner, Jo Murphy.
Jo Murphy delightedly welcomes her cocker spaniel 'Evie' back ashore after her rescue by Lifeboat crew (left to right): Colin Bateman, Sean Farrell (Coxswain) and Paul McCarthy. Pic: Martin Walsh
Crew spokesman, Vincent O’Donovan, said while they have rescued several dogs from rocks before, and taken one rescued dog on a second rescue about four years ago, this was the first time they had taken a dog on a mission which resulted in the rescue of a second dog.
He said Evie’s owners did the right thing by alerting the emergency services.
“Evie probably just chased a bird down onto the rocks. It’s a very inaccessible spot from the walk and Evie was going to be there for the night,” he said.
“The danger of course is that people would attempt to climb down to rescue their dog. It’s better not to risk it.”
