New lease of life for rescued dog who went downhill fast

The lurcher-Saluki cross, nicknamed Wufra, was hours from death when he was found by mountain rescue teams on the 2,000ft peak after a group of walkers reported a dog in distress.

He was so ill and starved he had to be carried a mile to safety from Buckden Pike in the Yorkshire Dales on a stretcher after his rescuers gently eased him into a casualty bag.

Vets gave him just two hours to live but two months on Wufra has made a remarkable recovery and is bounding round his new owner’s garden.

The rescuers carried him back to Grassington, where Helen Coates, from nearby canine business The Dog People, took him in and has now decided to give him a permanent home.

Ms Coates, 51, said: “After all he’s been through I just couldn’t put him up for rehoming.

“The day he was brought into us we were told that his organs were failing and his heartbeat was half what it should have been.

“He was so skinny and I had to hold him up if he needed the toilet because he just didn’t have the strength to lift himself.

“He was given just two hours to live and the vet said he probably wouldn’t make it through the first night.”

Wufra’s name is an anagram of the association UWFRA – the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association – which saved him in October. Ms Coates added: “I’m absolutely amazed at how healthy he is now. He is due to have an X-ray on his leg next week but other than that he’s fine.

“He’s not supposed to be doing any running on it until it’s checked but try telling him that. I think he’s very glad he’s alive and he obviously doesn’t realise he’s recovering from an injury.”

Rescue team leader Andy Jackson, 44, said eight members went up and carefully carried Wufra a mile down hill to safety.