Gresham, Oregon – If you lost your pet, you would look everywhere for her. That’s what Tammy Johnson and her daughter Jennifer did when their dog, Daisy, went missing. One place they never expected to find her, however, was on a ledge 50 feet below the edge of a 200-foot-deep rock quarry.

No one knows for sure how the 2-year-old pit bull mix ended up where she did, but it is theorized that the dog slipped on the gravel at the edge of the pit and tumbled down the steep cliff to the ledge where she was found. The ledge is about 200 feet from the bottom of the deep pit.

Daisy’s owners had noticed her missing on July 26. Workers at the Knife River Quarry noticed the dog in the area on Monday, July 2. She was found in the pit on Tuesday morning and rescue workers were called around 11:30 am. The Humane Society and local fire rescue responded quickly, but since the site is hazardous and overseen by the Mine Safety Health Administration, a rescue effort could not be launched until the quarry owner could get permission from that federal agency for rescuers to enter the pit. Rescue workers felt a sense of urgency to get the dog out quickly, not only because she had been stranded on the ledge for several hours without food or water, but also because, it being Independence Day, fireworks scheduled to be launched later that evening could frighten the dog and cause her to fall further into the deep hole.

Permission for entry into the quarry pit was finally granted around 8:15 that evening. At that time, Humane Society workers lowered a trap containing food to Daisy’s ledge in an effort to catch the dog and bring her up without the need for anyone to climb down to her. This tactic did not succeed, and it was determined that someone would have to be lowered into the pit to retrieve the dog.

Bob Chamberlain, a member of the Gresham fire department’s Technical Rescue Team, rappelled into the deep hole a short time later. Despite knowing that the dog would doubtless be hungry, Chamberlain did not bring food to lure her to him. At the suggestion of the local Humane Society, Chamberlain instead brought one of the owner’s T-shirts. As soon as Daisy sniffed the shirt, she immediately snuggled up against the firefighter and allowed him to secure her to him. She was lifted to safety and soon reunited with her very relieved owners.

“I’m so excited,” Tammy Johnson said. “I just can’t believe she’s back, and I can’t believe she did this. It’s like, oh my God this is almost embarrassing.” Johnson said she planned to have Daisy examined by a veterinarian, although her only visible injury was a bump on her nose.

Written by Mikki Hooven