He fell 300 feet off a cliff. The golden retriever lay bleeding on the rocks below while the Pacific tide crept closer and his family watched helplessly from above.
On New Year’s Day 2024, Alexa Fery and her fiancé Cody took their 3 year old golden retriever, Leo, hiking at Ecola State Park near Cannon Beach, Oregon. They had no idea it would almost be his last day alive.
Leo ran ahead on the trail. Then he vanished. Alexa and Cody found themselves staring over a cliff edge at a nearly vertical 300 foot drop. Far below, on a tiny strip of inaccessible beach, Leo lay injured and alone. The Pacific Ocean was closing in.
Three fire departments rushed to the scene, planning to rappel down the cliff face. But nightfall was approaching. The descent was too dangerous. They needed another option.
That’s when the Coast Guard arrived.
A helicopter from Air Station Astoria thundered over the water. A rescue swimmer was lowered from the aircraft, dropping into the crashing waves before wading toward the rocks. He approached the injured dog slowly, unsure if Leo would panic or bite. Instead, the bleeding golden retriever stayed perfectly still, letting the stranger touch him.
The swimmer gently placed Leo into a hoisting basket. Man and dog rose together into the helicopter.
When they landed in a parking lot, the rescuer carried Leo to his waiting family. Alexa wrapped him in a blanket. Then she pulled both the dog and the swimmer into an embrace.
“Hugs all around,” one pilot said over the radio. “Love it.”
Leo survived a 300 foot fall, a collapsed lung, a broken jaw, and the rising tide. He went home three days later, finally safe.
