Labrador Penny hauled from waterfall gorge after ledge rescue in Yorkshire Dales

A dog that became stranded on a narrow rocky ledge at the foot of a 12-metre cliff beside a Yorkshire Dales landmark waterfall has been returned safely to her owners after a multi-agency rescue. Eight-year-old Labrador Penny was winched out of a river gorge at Pecca Falls near Ingleton, in the Yorkshire Dales, where she had been stuck for several hours.

The incident took place at the well-known falls on Saturday afternoon, with the alarm raised at about 15:15 BST. Officials confirmed that Penny had fallen into the fast-flowing water and, after reaching the bank, had managed to scramble onto a rocky outcrop roughly 6.5ft (2m) above river level. From there she was unable to continue upwards and could not safely descend, leaving her marooned on a shelf of rock partway down a 40ft (12m) face.

Two organisations responded to the call. The Cave Rescue Organisation (CRO), a volunteer-run charity based in Clapham, was joined by North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, whose Ripon swiftwater rescue team provided support downstream of the dog's position. The two units worked together because the challenges of the location are twofold: reaching a stranded animal on a cliff, and managing the hazards of a watercourse that would sweep a dog — or a rescuer — away the moment footing was lost.

To reach Penny, a CRO volunteer was lowered on a rope system to the ledge. Once at the dog's side, the volunteer secured her and she was hauled back up the gorge, where she was reunited with her family. Photographs taken at the scene show a rescuer in waterproof clothing and climbing equipment descending a wet rock face above the river with the light brown Labrador cradled in his arms, while colleagues in red jackets prepared safety gear on the grassy bank above.

The location itself makes the outcome a good one. Pecca Falls is a landmark of the Ingleton area, best known for a series of five cascades that together drop more than 30m (98ft) through a narrow limestone gorge. The site attracts walkers, scramblers and photographers throughout the year, but the combination of steep, slick rock, deep pools and confined space means there is little room for error for anyone — human or animal — who ends up below the rim.

Specialist swiftwater teams such as the Ripon unit exist precisely for these environments. Water moving through a gorge is typically far more powerful than it appears from the bank, with submerged obstacles, undercut rock and unpredictable currents that can trap and hold a swimmer. Controlling or containing moving water, and protecting teams working immediately above it, is a specialist discipline, which is why fire and rescue crews were deployed below Penny while cave rescue volunteers handled the ascent.

CRO itself is a long-established part of the Yorkshire Dales rescue landscape. Formed in 1935, the charity has more than 80 volunteers who regularly attend mountain and cave rescues across the Yorkshire Dales National Park, with its reach extending into Lancashire and Cumbria, and it also assists with other public service incidents. Such organisations are typically volunteer-funded and depend on donations to equip and train teams, meaning that each call-out consumes resources the charity must replace.

Penny's rescue is not the first time the organisation has been called to Pecca Falls. In March this year, the team used a similar rope-and-pulley setup to free a dog that had fallen 26.2ft (8m) and also ended up stranded on a narrow ledge. The repeat call-outs underline how often the same hazards present themselves at this popular site, and how quickly a momentary slip near a waterfall can turn into a technical rescue.

Experts in search and rescue have long noted that dogs are among the most frequent animals involved in such incidents in the UK, drawn into gorges and cave systems by scent, curiosity and the pursuit of prey such as sheep or birds. Owners are generally advised to keep dogs on leads and under close control around waterfalls, beck valleys, mines and quarries, particularly in wet weather when rock is slick and paths beside water become unstable.

CRO volunteers have been busy more broadly this spring. In May, a team spent six hours freeing a dog trapped underground, and a terrier named Krakka was recovered after spending two days in a rabbit hole. Those incidents, alongside the two rescues at Pecca Falls, show a charity covering a wide brief: mountain rescue, cave rescue, and the less predictable work of retrieving pets from places their owners simply could not follow.

Penny, for her part, is back with her family and, according to those involved, unharmed. For the crews who rigged the ropes, lowered a volunteer into the gorge and worked the water below, the successful outcome of a routine Saturday call-out at one of the Dales' best-known waterfalls served as a reminder of the value of keeping volunteer rescue capacity available in the country's busiest walking country.