Meet Duke – a four-year-old Golden Retriever who likes to spend time outdoors with his family.
Duke really enjoys hiking, but on a recent excursion in Vancouver’s North Shore Mountains, the 100-pound dog became stranded on a treacherous route and required assistance from a few compassionate rescuers to escape danger.
The 100-pound dog cut his paws when the trail he and his mom were hiking turned into sharp rocks. Duke’s mom tried to carry him to safety herself, but the terrain beneath her feet was still too rough to walk on and the narrow trail had a steep drop-off. So she called North Shore Rescue for help.
Within minutes, air operations coordinator Tim Blown and the rest of his team responded to the scene via helicopter.
“We were able to land not that far away, exit the helicopter and hike down to the location,” Blown said.
Although the North Shore Rescue team is used to saving humans on the mountain range, they’ve rescued a few dogs in the past, so they knew just what to do.
“We put him in a rescue harness and then one of our members hiked the dog back to the helicopter,” Blown said.
Despite weighing more than 100 pounds and suffering from paw injuries, Duke remained calm during the whole rescue. In reality, he was glad to be rescued and taken to safety.
You’d assume a large dog may become unhappy while being picked up and carried, Blown said. But he appeared to be content after we hoisted him into the chopper and dropped him off.
The North Shore Rescue team then lifted the helicopter off the dangerous peak and brought Duke and his humans safely to the ground again.
Duke’s humans then brought him to a local vet clinic immediately after landing, where he received emergency care for his paws.
Thanks to North Shore Rescue’s quick response, Duke is on the mend. According to the vet, his paws should be fully healed in just a few weeks, which means he’ll be able to explore dog-safe trails with his parents again soon.
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