Man thanks rescuers after missing puppy adventure
A Lochgair man has sent ‘profound thanks’ to the emergency service personnel who rescued him after he got stuck on a remote hillside while trying to find his missing puppy.
Hew Service, originally from Ardfern, got into trouble on Sunday March 1 when his Patterdale pup Torsa disappeared after breaking her tether while his wife Barbara was working in their six-acre woodland garden at Knock Newhouse.
After searching to no avail, Mr Service, who has recently undergone chemotherapy, decided to walk up the steep hill behind the garden to try and locate the adventurous canine.
Planted with five-foot high, immature trees, the higher part of the hill, however, proved difficult to walk on.
Taking up the story, Mr Service explained: ‘Once I reached the top of the hill, I was challenged by old bracken stalks full of briars about two foot deep which made the going much harder than I had expected.
‘After a couple of falls, I became badly entangled and stumbled into a large puddle. I was kneeling but unable to get to my feet again and the young trees were too small and flimsy to help me to rise.’
Mr Service called to his wife who by this time had grown concerned about her husband and had walked part of the way up the hill. She immediately called 999 and police and ambulance crew from Inveraray and Lochgilphead arrived promptly to the scene followed closely by fire and rescue and coastguard volunteers.
‘They were under the misunderstanding I was in deep water rather than just kneeling in about six inches,’ added Mr Service.
‘The next problem was getting me back down though.
‘The first idea was to support me to walk down but when I was helped up my knees could not support my weight so a stretcher was produced by the coastguard and I was strapped in.
‘I weigh 16 stone, am just over six feet tall and the path is narrow so it was very difficult for the party, which by now numbered around 20 men and women, some having to hold a heavy stretcher to manoeuvre down.
‘They were all spectacular and with such amazing kindness and humour.
‘I will never be able to thank them enough. If I had been forced to spend a night on that hill, it would have been a totally different story.’
Mr Service’s ordeal lasted around four hours, with the emergency services ensuring his safe transportation over the challenging terrain to an awaiting ambulance.
For Torsa the pup, however, the trial lasted slightly longer but to the massive relief of the Services, who had almost given up hope of finding her, she was discovered tied up in the nearby village last Wednesday evening.
‘Barbara and I are thrilled to have our lovely puppy back. We still don’t know what happened to her and she has been a bit jaded since her return but she is perking up a bit now.
‘Again, we sincerely thank everyone who went out to look for her.
‘A happy ending to what could have been altogether a different story.’