Pet makes waves for owner after lucky escape
Deirdre O’Shaugnessy, editor of Cork 96FM’s Opinion Line, was in Florence, Italy, when word got through that her dog Vimes had gone on a death-defying adventure in her absence.
Vimes was staying with her parents and was taken for a walk near Kilkee, Co Clare, when it wandered off and got a bit too close to a 90m cliff.
Unfortunately, the ground started to give way at Look Out Point, Dunlicky.
The dog fell to the sea, but amazingly without hitting the cliff wall or the rocks below.
The Irish Coast Guard centre at Valentia was alerted and, in turn, requested the Kilkee unit of the service to act.
The volunteer service quickly launched its rescue boat for what was its 10th callout in a week.
The boat got to the scene but could not find Vimes before discovering that he had managed to survive the fall and make it back to the shore at the base of the cliff.
Deirdre, who married Brian Stokes late last month, posted news about their dog’s adventures on her Twitter account.
“Away for our honeymoon and the dog, who is being babysat by my parents, decides he’s not getting enough attention… Poor parents are in shock,” she said.
She also thanked the Coast Guard for going out to rescue the dog.
A spokesman for the Coast Guard said once Vimes was found safe and well, it took a little time to get him safely onboard.
“We made a plan to recover the dog and did so successfully,” said the spokesman. “The dog didn’t appear to be hurt but was happy to see us. We brought him back to our base in Kilkee and reunited him with his owners.”
