HAWKE’S BAY: GERMAN SHEPHERD FOUND AND REUNITED WITH HURT OWNER AFTER CLIFF FALL NEAR MOHAKA RIVER

Hopes were dwindling for the beloved German Shepherd, Bee, who had been lost and stranded in a river valley, when rescuers suddenly spotted her swimming toward their boat.

It had been two days since the Lowe Corporation rescue helicopter had airlifted Bee’s owner, Robbie Johnson, from a cliff face along the Mohaka River.

The pair had been camping and rafting in the remote Hawke’s Bay area when disaster struck on Wednesday afternoon. The ground beneath them gave way, sending them plummeting more than 30 meters onto the rocky terrain below.

Demi Wharehinga-Harmer, a friend of Johnson and Bee, explained that Johnson managed to crawl to an area where he could get phone service and raised the alarm around 3 p.m.

She, along with two others, helped coordinate the rescue efforts alongside emergency services, including the helicopter team.

“I got a text from him saying ‘I have broken my leg, Demi, I need a helicopter quickly,’” Wharehinga-Harmer said.

When Johnson was airlifted from about 4km upstream from Te Kooti bridge, Bee had stuck by his side, but had to remain behind because the challenging location forced the use of a winch, which isn’t suitable for animals.

It wasn’t long before the story reached social media. Bee was still out there.

The search for Bee intensified on Thursday, but despite a full day of effort, there was still no sign of her.

“Everyone was on a wild goose chase trying to find the dog,” said Wharehinga-Harmer.

She had flown a drone over the area, while friends had taken a jet boat in search of the missing German Shepherd, but all attempts came up empty.

On Friday, the Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter crew, in consultation with Vet Services, sourced a muzzle and appropriate restraints for Bee and joined the search during their scheduled training. However, they were later called away for an emergency and unable to continue the search.

As the weekend approached, hundreds of people offered to travel to Hawke’s Bay and help look for Bee, showing up on social media to offer their support.

It was two jet boaters, returning from their own search, who happened to look behind them late Friday afternoon and saw Bee swimming toward their boat.

“She jumped straight into the boat, and they were on their way home,” said Wharehinga-Harmer.

Johnson, who was still in the hospital on Monday, had left behind his hat in hopes that Bee would continue to smell him and stay close. It seemed to work, as Bee stayed in the area until she was found.

Wharehinga-Harmer described Bee as a “trooper,” noting that while her paws showed slight wear from the ordeal, she was otherwise healthy.

She also said it was incredibly heart-warming to see the outpouring of support on social media, with many people offering to help with the search.

After being found, Bee stayed with Wharehinga-Harmer before being reunited with Johnson on Saturday.

“When he saw her, he just broke down with happiness,” Wharehinga-Harmer recalled. “That’s all he cared about as soon as he got into the helicopter.”

Charlie Beetham, chief pilot of Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter Service, explained that the difficult extraction meant they had to leave Bee behind initially.

“It was a tricky winch extraction of the patient, and we don’t usually winch dogs as we don’t have a way to secure them to the hoist,” Beetham said.

Beetham explained that the crew did everything they could given the challenging terrain.

“This was a particularly technical and difficult extraction from a steep, unstable cliff face,” he said.

While dogs are usually allowed in the rescue helicopter, he noted that it depends on various factors such as the dog’s condition, behaviour, weight, balance, and the circumstances of the rescue.