Lifeboatmen, lifeguards and coastguards were all called to the aid of a dog stuck on the rocks in Whitsand Bay - but it was an off duty RNLI press officer who managed to bring the pooch to safety.
Looe RNLI volunteers were called to Sharrow Beach on Thursday afternoon after Rolo the Shar Pei was reported to Falmouth Coastguard as being either in the water or on the cliffs.
When the four lifeboat crew arrived in the Atlantic 85 lifeboat, lifeguards were already there on their rigid hull inflatable, as well as both the Looe and the Tamar Coastguard teams on the clifftops above.
While uninjured, the shy dog would not allow crew to approach him, so the lifeboat was asked to standby offshore.
‘As the tide went out, Rolo made friends with the Baldry family who were out walking and followed them along the beach,’ said a Looe RNLI spokesperson.
‘John Baldry, who coincidently, is the lifeboat press officer with Plymouth Lifeboat Station, realised that Looe RNLI’s Atlantic 85 was in the area but was not aware, until he left the beach and met the coastguard team, that Rolo was the reason our crew was there.’
It had been already been a busy day for the Looe Lifeboat team, who had been called early in the morning to help a crab fisherman whose boat had suffered engine problems.
The Downderry Maid had called for help from half a mile off Colmer Rocks near Millendreath, after the skipper had been unable to make repairs to the engine at sea.
The volunteer crew responded to the pager at 6.25am and towed the crabber back to its berth on the East Looe quayside.
The RNLI gives out the following advice to dog walkers:
- Always keep your dog on a lead when walking close to cliff or water edge
- If the dog falls or goes into the water do not go after them
- Move to a place of safety and call the dog
- Most dogs will get back by themselves
- If you are worried call 999 and ask for the coastguard