RNLI lifeguards rescue dog having fallen 60 foot from cliffs at Perranporth

By the time his owner, Mr Helford who lives locally had caught up, Ronnie was nowhere to be seen. Mr Helford immediately headed down to the beach where he raised the alarm with the RNLI lifeguards.

RNLI lifeguards Rory Tellam and Tom Cutmore launched the Inshore Rescue Boat (IRB) to head to the area where Ronnie was thought to have gone over and found him perched on a ledge at the bottom of the cliff. Thankfully unharmed, Ronnie had survived the fall, but with the tide coming in, there was no escape route for him other than by sea.

With some big surf running the Rescue Water Craft (RWC) was also launched to provide back up the lifeguards manoeuvred IRB close enough into the cliff for Rory to get out and approached Ronnie slowly.

Rory says; ‘He was very badly shaken and understandably after his ordeal, a bit scared when he saw me approach, but I eventually gained his trust enough to be able to put him in the IRB. We bought him round to the beach where we reunited him with his owner. He was very lucky, it’s about a 60 foot drop down onto the beach from the top of the cliffs, we think he must have fallen into the water and scrambled back up onto the rocks, but with the tide coming in, he was in a very precarious place.’

Notes to Editors

• Please find attached an image of the RNLI lifeguards rescuing Ronnie at Perranporth beach
• Follow the link to see which beaches are currently lifeguarded https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/beaches-with-lifeguards-on-patrol
• To support the RNLI’s lifesavers, go to: www.rnli.org/donate

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