Animal lovers in Malaysia crossed a river and hiked a steep mountain to save a stray dog that had been stranded on a cliffside for four days.
They could hear the canine barking and see it on the cliffside from a far distance below. It appeared in distress.
Francis Poh and three other volunteers set out on the rescue mission at 8 a.m. after hearing reports of a lost pooch wandering the forest in Petaling Jaya city, Malaysia, on March 19.
The group took a motorboat along a river to the remote escarpment and sought the best route to reach the animal.
Dramatic footage shows how the pooch was finally carried to safety more than eight hours later at 4:30 p.m.
“We were sunburned and our stamina was tested to the max. The mission needed Navy SEALs because it involved water, land, climbing, and hiking,” said Poh, relieved.
“We did two parts, first from the lake and the second from the top of the jungle. We did it successfully without major injuries but minor cuts.”
Footage shows how Poh and the small team docked at the foot of the cliff and started ascending the steep trail, setting up ropes to scale the rocks.
Poh said the initial plan was to climb the hill from the lake, but after about two hours they “aborted the plan as the terrain was not conducive for us to climb up.”
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Upon being caught in a dead end, Poh is heard saying in footage taken during the rescue: “The dog is still far away from us. He’s somewhere around 50 to 40 feet away.
“It’s so risky. The wall we are facing is like this. We’ve basically crossed everything already.
“Everything is slope, everything is flat, a bit of crack here and there to hold on.”
The group changed plans and went to a construction site on top of the hills and decided to descend to the dog’s location from there. They took a truck and arrived in the afternoon.
While in the truck, Poh was heard saying, “Now we are going for a second mission. This time from the top. We’re not sure if we can be successful or not but we will try everything we can.”
The construction site supervisor offered to assist the rescuers and guided them through the forest.
Poh, who has been rescuing animals in his spare time for more than 10 years, said, “We had to hike for quite a distance while being guided by the site supervisor and led by fellow rescuer Kevan De Silva, before managing to determine the dog’s location.”
After more than eight hours, at around 4:30 p.m., the team finally found the dog and carried it back to the construction site. Miraculously unhurt, it was given food by the team.
Poh said, “We ended up with scratches on our limbs as some of the vegetation we encountered had sharp thorns but thankfully none of us sustained any serious injuries.”
The pooch was adopted by workers at the construction site where it stayed after the difficult rescue mission.
