KITCHENER -- Firefighters were out at the Elora Gorge to perform a rope rescue for a dog that fell over 60 feet.
Roughly 25 firefighters from both Elora and Fergus responded to the scene just before 10 a.m. on Sunday west of County Road Seven bridge in the GRCA park.
Officials say the rescue took about two hours and required the use of harnesses and rappelling down the side of the cliff.
Crews managed to bring the dog back up, and while it had veterinary care, it unfortunately died.
Centre Wellington deputy fire chief Johnathan Karn tells CTV News the owners weren’t doing anything wrong, were walking on a proper trail, and that it was an extremely unfortunate situation.
"The pet was able to get over the wall and away from them and then unfortunately did fall," he said. "It was a medium to large sized dog, but regardless of the side it's quite a fall for any person or animal.
"I don't know if the dog was on a leash."
A representative from the GRCA says they stress users of the area to keep their dogs on a leash and stay on the side of the fencing that is in place.
"We do walk our dog off leas sometimes, but in an area like this I don't think we would ever even think about letting him loose, because they're so curious, they don't know that they can fall on the other side" said hiker Andrea Sproule. "It's sickening, it makes my heart hurt."
Karn adds that fire crews provide rope rescue so pet owners don’t attempt to retrieve animals themselves, as they’ve seen people scale down cliffs in the past to try to get their pet.
