Leo, a three-year-old Golden Retriever, had no idea what a Happy New Year 2024 turned out to be for his humans.
While taking a family hike along the cliffs of Oregon’s Ecola State Park on January 1, the adventurous pup bolted ahead of his family, lost his footing, and plunged 300 feet onto the rocky shoreline. Horrified, Leo’s humans, Alexa Fery and Cody Chimienti, notified authorities.
First responders couldn’t access the remote area on foot. A U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Astoria aircrew swooped in just as rising ocean waters threatened to wash away the stranded dog.
“By the time we got out there about 45 minutes later, we’d probably lost about seventy to eighty percent of the beach that we’d seen before,” U.S. Coastguard pilot, Lt. Michael Travers, told NBC News. “Our rescue swimmer said the dog was scared but generally seemed okay and happy to be helped.”
Lowered by ropes from a hovering MH 60 Jayhawk helicopter, rescuers secured Leo to a basket and lifted him to safety. Plucked from churning tides, the battered Leo was whisked to the nearest emergency vet; nearly an hour’s drive. An exam revealed that Leo suffered a collapsed lung, a broken jaw, and several other wounds. Amazingly Leo is expected to fully recover.
Leo’s family has launched a GoFundMe to help pay his medical bills, amounting to thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, expressed eternal gratitude for Leo’s rescuers.
“We are very thankful Leo is alive and his injuries are not worse,” Fery and Chimienti told NBC News. “We extend our deepest thank you and appreciation to the first responders and the Coast Guard who were able to rescue him. If it wasn’t for them, he would not be here with us.”
Leo was indeed lucky. While cats are reputed to withstand falls of more than 200 feet, dogs rarely survive falls half that height.
“Our whole crew felt a strong sense of accomplishment, and it was a good way to kick off 2024,” Travers added.
Ironically, the Coast Guard Foundation recently published a 2024 calendar named: “Dogs of the Coast Guard.”
Will Leo make the 2025 edition?