Dog saved after being stuck for 5 days
Cave experts squeezed down crevice and lured canine with a hot dog
Liza is one lucky dog.
The 12-year-old canine was rescued Tuesday evening after being stuck for five days without food or water in a narrow rock crevice near the Gertrude’s Nose Trail in Minnewaska State Park Preserve in Ulster County.
She was ultimately lured toward a catchpole with a hot dog on the end of it wielded by a petite cave rescue expert from New Jersey who was able to squeeze 40 feet down into the crevice to reach the stranded pet.
Liza’s ordeal began last Thursday, Oct. 7, when an Ulster County woman noticed her dog had fallen out of sight, according to the state Office of Parks and Recreation.
The dog could be heard barking, prompting park staffers to try and get the animal out before dark.
That was to no avail. By Tuesday, however, members of the Ulster County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals came and used a specialized plumbing inspection camera to try and reach the dog. The New Jersey Initial Response Team, a regional volunteer group specializing in cave rescue, had also gotten involved by then. First they used the camera to make sure the dog was still alive and OK. Two response team members were able to descend into the crevice to get the plumbing camera close enough to observe the dog moving in a narrow area, and apparently unharmed.
One rescuer, Jessica Van Ord, was able to “squeeze and contort herself ” in order to get a modified, extended catch pole around the dog, which was lifted close enough to be placed into a rescue pack and brought to the surface at about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Van Ord used a hot dog hanging from the end of the catch pole as a lure in order get the catch pole’s rescue loop around the animal.
SPCA officials determined the