Published at 11:09, Thursday, 10 May 2012

A MOUNTAIN rescue team carried a 10-stone dog over loose boulders after it became stranded at the foot of Wastwater Screes.

Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team was called at 6pm on Monday after a pair of walkers, from Leicestershire, got stuck with their large American Bulldog.

The dog was unable to get across a boulder field and had refused to swim in the lake so had to be partly carried along the path.

“We tried pushing it and pulling it, and coaxing it with food but it was having none of it,” said team leader Mike Gullen.

Around 20 members of the team were called out and they resorted to wrapping the dog in tent material and carrying it some of the way. “It didn’t like that much and got a bit aggressive so we didn’t carry it for long,” Mr Gullen said. “It managed to walk the rest of the way. I think the thought of going back in the tent kept it going.”

He said the boulder field was very slippery and involved moving rocks with large holes in between.

“It’s quite difficult for a dog to navigate the area,” Mr Gullen added. “We’ve been called out there before to dogs.”

He said the couple had tried to get the dog to swim in the lake but the woman had been pulled in by it and was soaking. Her friend had then gone in to help and ended “up to her middle” in the water. Both were treated for hypothermia and given a change of clothes and warmed up.

Mr Gullen said the team would normally have used a boat in this situation, but it was being repaired.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk