Young Climber Rappels Down Cliff To Rescue Blind Dog Trapped 3 Days

A 19-year-old climber who works at an outdoor gear store helped rescue an old, partly blind dog that fell off a cliff and survived three days without food.

“I really like dogs,” said Linc Lippincott, who rappelled down the cliff with an animal-shelter worker to rescue the 14-year-old dog named Duke.

Lippincott and Eric Ofsthus from the Progressive Animal Welfare Society wrapped the 65-pound dog in webbing and pulled him up a rope line to safety Tuesday.

Duke, dubbed “Cliff” by animal welfare workers, apparently wandered out of his yard on Saturday.

“I almost gave up hopes of finding him,” said Joe Anderson of Monroe, who has owned Duke since the dog was a puppy.

A woman on Florence Acres Road heard Duke barking, trapped by the cliff on one side and Woods Creek on the other. She called the Snohomish County sheriff’s office, which called PAWS in Lynnwood.

On Monday, Ofsthus and another volunteer tried wading up the creek to reach the dog, which was trapped on a rocky ledge. But the water in the creek was too high and too fast to make the rescue.

PAWS workers called the REI store in Lynnwood and hooked up with Lippincott, an employee there.

Duke survived without any apparent injuries, and Anderson said he was going to do something to prevent similar accidents.

“I think we’re going to fence our yard,” he said.