Dog rescued after being trapped on cliff in Tamar Valley

Family pet Freya went missing from home on Sunday, July 26 and her owners and friends organised a series of frantic searches.

The poorly pooch was eventually found by a heroic hound called Monty three days later and rescuers arrived on scene within minutes.

Freya, a huntaway cross-collie, had tumbled around ten metres, but her fall in the Tamar Valley had been broken by a tree.

After five hours on site, a team of volunteers from Devon Cave Rescue Organisation was able to abseil her to the bottom where she was reunited with her relieved owners Graham and Sian Upcott.

She was checked over by vets and, apart from being severely dehydrated, had miraculously escaped her ordeal in Gunnislake, Cornwall, unscathed.

John Whiteley, team leader of Devon Cave Rescue Organisation, said: "She's a very lucky girl, and it is great to have a story with a happy ending.

"She originally went missing on the 26th of this month and family members had been searching the woods for three days looking for her.

"There had been various reports of whimpering and barking in the woods and there was concern she had fallen down one of the many mineshafts in the area.

"We were asked by the police to deploy a small team to look for her. Myself and five others arrived at around 5.45pm on Wednesday. But it was another dog called Monty, a terrier, who was the real hero as he indicated to his owner where Freya was during a walk.

"Freya was eventually found on a piece of rock face called Chimney Rock on the Tamar Valley.

"She was wedged into a gully with a tree about eight metres down. The tree is what would have stopped her falling further she was jammed at the base of it around 60 metres from the ground.

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"Two members of our team abseiled down. The first was Joe Cartwright who took down some bottles of water and dog treats and fed those to Freya.

"She was very welcoming then another member of our team Rick Stewart took down a rescue bag and manhandled her into it. They both abseiled down with Freya until they were back on the ground and she was reunited with her owners.

"She was walking ok and had no injuries. She was taken to the vets to be checked out and was a bit stiff in her joints after being stuck for three days sat in the same spot.

"We were on site for about five hours and this was an excellent outcome."

Kim Upcott, the daughter of her owners, said the whole family was massively relieved that she was now back home.

She said: "Freya is absolutely fine which is miraculous really. She's a bit stiff and sore from keeping herself there for so long but she is there but she is absolutely fine and is back to her usual happy self.

"We are all just so happy she is home. The first night mum was out til midnight looking for her. We all went out the next day until 10pm. The third day we could still hear all the howling, but we could not pinpoint where it was coming from as she would not reply to us calling her.

"Luckily another dog pointed her out to his owners and they rang us.

"It was such a relief. Mum has been in pieces for the last three days and it was not a nice feeling at all. Everyone kept saying they could hear the whining and we knew she was out there somewhere.

"It was almost making it worse and we just had to find her. It was just pure relief when we found her as we had thought the worst. We thought she had fallen down and was badly injured. But the relief she was ok was immense.

"She's an absolute star."