Rusty home safely after nine days down 60m cliff

Deputy chief fire officer Kelly Chambers had to abseil down a cliff to retrieve Rusty. Photo / Supplied

After enduring a nine-day ordeal at the bottom of a 60m cliff without food or water, Rusty the collie rewarded his rescuer by almost licking him to death.

Bronwyn Shute had given up hope of seeing the purebred border collie again, after it disappeared from her property at Owaka, south of Balclutha, last week.

The 9-year-old dog was with her pest contractor husband Deane when he was crushed by a large rock while laying bait at Omarama Station in January 2009.

It was terrible to think Rusty had vanished, she said. "I thought someone had taken him ... I had totally given up on seeing him again."

Family and friends had searched for the beloved pet but it was a tourist who raised the alarm after hearing a faint bark while walking along the Jack's Blowhole Track shortly before 4pm on Saturday.

The Fire Service was contacted and the Owaka volunteer brigade was sent to the scene.

Deputy chief officer Kelly Chambers - a friend of the Shute family - abseiled 60m down the cliff face to discover the usually reserved dog overcome with emotion. "He just about licked me to death," Mr Chambers said. There was a ledge for him to retreat to during high tides but "if there were any rough seas he would have been history".

"He is as good as gold," Mrs Shute said.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES