The dog got a helicopter lift from the fells above Patterdale
A missing dog has been found safe and well after spending five nights on the Lake District fells.
Searches took place each day on the fells above Patterdale since Monday when a boxer called Murphy was lost.
The dog and its owner Lewis Blythe were plucked from the mountains by a helicopter and flown to safety yesterday, Saturday.
The helicopter was paid for following a Twitter campaign to raise cash to find the dog, who slipped his lead at Angle Tarn.
Mr Blythe and his partner were on holiday in Windermere so were concerned the dog was unfamiliar with the area.
A Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team spokesperson said the team was contacted by police about 6.50pm to say its help was needed to rescue a dog found near Fall Crag below Angle Tarn.
“The 999 call came through on a roaming emergency system and the team was therefore unable to recontact the man.
“With very little information to go on, and not knowing if the caller and dog were stuck in a dangerous situation on the mountain, the team went quickly to their aid.
“En route the team heard from a member of the public that the dog and owner and had been airlifted by private helicopter and were safely on their way to the Lancaster area.
“The dog, a boxer called Murphy, had actually gone missing on Monday afternoon and team members had assisted the man to search for the dog each day since then.
“The team is very pleased that the outcome was so positive for Murphy, who was found fit and well.”
A Twitter campaign was launched to help find the dog
The dog was found about 100m from where he slipped his lead, an area that had already been searched by the Patterdale team, which led his owners to believe he had been wandering the fells.
He is now safely back at home with in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, with Mr Blythe.
Emergency roaming means 999 calls can be made even if the caller’s mobile phone network has no signal. Other networks will pick up the call and connect to the emergency services, but rescuers cannot call the person back, as they would normally do when connected through the caller’s own service.
Emma Millar
20 April 2014This is absolutely fantastic news. My husband and I kept an eye out all week for Murphy. We were staying in the cabins at Hartsop. So so glad that this story has an happy ending.
A Piglit
20 April 2014What an obscene waste of money
Suzanne
20 April 2014Oh bore off A Piglit...
Boxermad
20 April 2014A Piglit it is very fortunate there are very few people like yourself - the money was raised from the public through kind donations to help in the search rescue so do not worry!! Let's hope you never need a search party to find you…...
Karl Hodge
20 April 2014Awesome. So if a child was lost you think it would be a waste of money? Children are no more important than a dog. Real dog owners know a dog is a very imporant family member. Hope you get lost somewhere as no one will care.
So glad murphy was found :)
M W
20 April 2014I would not be to hard on him, he cannot possibly understand, nor probably care to.
If you have not had a Boxer then how could he know...just pity him as he has not had that unconditional love we all cherish
Boxerwitch
20 April 2014No doubt Piglit in your sad life you will of wasted money on things ........who are you to comment on how people waste theirs? And judging by the comments that followed yours I'm not alone in my 'thought'. Thank goodness there's kind, considerate people out there to help others even when they don't know them. The world would be a terrible place if everyone was of your caliber!
Rache
20 April 2014Ups .. Think you said the wrong words there piglet ... ! Us boxer dog owners are very passionate about our boxer babies .
shirley
21 April 2014I have dogs they arnt boxers i went arms length spent evry penny to get my 2 dogs back as i would for al 4 i have my dogs are my life now what keeps me going i would do anything i fully agree and me myself proud of what lewis and evryone else done to find murphy
Hollie
21 April 2014I donated they money I had saved to buy my wedding shoes in order for Murphy to be found. Lewis could have spent the money however he thought best but so pleased he opted for a trip with Helivation. I have been gripped by this search all week and flooding Twitter with pleas to find Murphy. Now he's found I can get back to the housework and my neglected finance! We all love Murphg and would have done anything to support Gary and Lewis in their time of need and it's a real comfort and I'm very proud to be a part of this online Boxer dog family.
Tricky D
21 April 2014Never seen so many responses to an article on this site,I think some people need to have a lie down and calm them selves! LOL
A Piglit
21 April 2014Thank you for all your kind comments they were more than I could have hoped for of which the best is "children are no more important than a dog"
Happy Easter Y'all and at remember all the children in the world who have no access to healthcare at all let alone being casevaced by a private helicopter.
@adey be careful what you wish for dude
oinxxx
vivien lloyd
21 April 2014do we really care what piglet thinks, i suppose he is entitled to his opinion, my opinion is it was money well spent donated by loving dog owners who cared enough to help reunite loving owners with there dog.....well done lewis and gary for doing what you did for murphy its just 1 negative comment. tomorrow will be a emotional day for me as i had to say goodbye my 1st boxer and it cost me a lot of money to try and save her so mr piglet whether they are lost or ill a good dog owner will pull out all the stops to save our dogs.
A Piglit
21 April 2014OK final word here
Cost of helicopter (guessing EC135 or similar) 1500 quid odd per hour
How many hours?
Dog located (predictably) by ground search by MRT volunteers 100m from last contact point,
The chances of spotting the dog from the helo would have been mininal anyway
So apart from a quick lift off the hill the helo was REDUNDANT
Have any of you any idea what even 1500 quid would do in a country where there is no emergency health care? Believe me it would be life changing.
Or if that doesn't matter to you think what care the PDSA could have given to animals in this country who suffer because their owners cannot afford hideous vet fees.
Therein lies my definition of obsencity.
So if you still fancy you are caring people and not for yourselves and full of hate......
....give some dosh to Medicin Sans Frontiers or if you really don't like foreign casualties and prefer domestic pets chuck a quid or two at the PDSA
Ian
21 April 2014I find some of the above comments very disturbing - they may even be libelous.
Is the Grough editorial team on holiday?
sean
22 April 2014realy good news the dogs fine but please stop the appaling offers of voilence.
every one is entitled to their at times childish single minded oppinion.
Sean, Proud Dad and Dog owner. oh and Winter Mountain Leader (that comes last) x
this is supposed to be a nice site ! for nice people.
Mike
22 April 2014"Mr Blythe and his partner were on holiday in Windermere so were concerned the dog was unfamiliar with the area."
Appalling. ALL dogs venturing to the area should do so with a map and compass and the ability to use them correctly.
OutdoorsAndy
22 April 2014Hi,
Really glad the pooch was found.
I love my dogs, they are my pack and part of my family.
"A Piglit" is a Troll.
Please folks don't rise, its what he wants.
Number one rule of the internet is, "never feed the trolls".
It's what they want ;)
Ian
22 April 2014Troll or not - some of the comments being posted here are unbelievable.
John
22 April 2014Well said Sean and Ian; I have only recently joined this site, but the comments on here are frankly unacceptable to the extent that I will be leaving immediately - there are plenty of other outdoor sites with truly nice people. Shame on you Grough, for allowing this tirade of abuse in response to a relatively innocuous (if slightly misjudged) comment. Oh and "adey" you sound like you should be incarcerated somewhere at her majesty's pleasure with the other similar fantacists - however your seemingly psychopathic knowledge of how to inflict pain and suffering on others, is one I hope the police would care to explore. Bye everyone
Sheepy
22 April 2014All and any further donations to the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team would be much appreciated.
There are many volunteers who give up a lot of time and risk their own lives to help others throughout the year, whether they be two legged or four.
Funding to support these organisations is always under pressure and any assistance is always welcome.
gwyliwr
22 April 2014So someone who expresses a point of view with which you disagree is a troll. Don't think so, OutdoorsAndy.
There is a huge difference between robust discussion and the vile personal abuse in some of the previous posts. Some of the comments constitute threatening behaviour, which is illegal, whether done face-to-face or online. Those who do this are the trolls, and up to now grough has been free of them.
I have emailed Bob Smith and asked him to sort out this abuse of his site. He has replied that he is 'on the hills' and will deal with it when he returns. It need to be sorted sooner rather than later, I think.
I will be watching to see how this is dealt with. If it continues, like John I'll be going elsewhere for outdoor news.
heidi
22 April 2014murphy looks a georgeous dog- im so happy he is safe and sound
Luke Smith
22 April 2014A number of comments were removed from the article earlier today.
The editor Bob Smith has been (and remains) on the hills today. As such it has taken longer than we would like for comments in violation of the grough terms and conditions to be removed. This is an unfortunate consequence of the nature of our business, which for obvious reasons often mandates that we are away from the office.
Comments will continue to be monitored and those in violation of the terms and conditions will be removed.
Please use the 'contact us' link at the bottom of this page if you have any concerns regarding a published comment.
--
Luke Smith
Technical Director, grough
gwyliwr
23 April 2014Thanks for dealing with the trolls and bullies, Luke
None of us need to put up with that sort of sad ignorance.
Mike
23 April 2014'Mr Blythe and his partner were on holiday in Windermere so were concerned the dog was unfamiliar with the area.'
This is appalling, ALL dogs going to the hills should be equipped with the appropriate map and compass and knowledge of how to use them correctly.
Bob
23 April 2014Some of the comments on this story have been removed because they do not comply with paragraph 4 of grough's terms and conditions:
"All users of grough and its associated services undertake not to post or submit any material, in whatever form, that is: illegal; unlawful, defamatory; libellous; abusive; threatening; obscene as defined by the laws of England and Wales and of Scotland; harmful; invasive of privacy (eg home addresses or telephone numbers without the consent of the person(s) involved).
"Furthermore, by using grough and its associated services, you undertake not to supply or post any material that may cause offence to any person by nature of their: race or nationality; sex or gender; sexual orientation; disability or health, including HIV and Aids; age."
Please note that comments on this site are not pre-moderated and will appear automatically. If we are notified we will review posts.
As Luke has explained above, I was out on the hills for three days, in an area largely without mobile phone coverage. Ian emailed me about 9pm on Monday and gwyliwr about 10.30pm. I was able briefly to pick up emails about 10am on Tuesday but then lost signal again.
About 1pm that day I was able to get a mobile phone signal and at that point removed all the posts I conisdered contravened our terms and conditions.
The above post from gwyliwr was made after this had been done.
Please not the following statement from our ethical policy:
"The nature of the subject matter covered by grough determines that there are periods of time when our writers and staff are ‘in the field’ for protracted lengths of time.
"During such times, we may not be able to respond to complaints or requests for corrections immediately. Please be patient if you do not receive an immediate acknowledgement. There will also be times when technological problems mean we are unable to reply promptly, for instance where there is a break in service of our email server. We aim to acknowledge communications quickly, so if you do not hear from us, please be patient: there is probably a good reason – we may be miles from communication on an assignment!"
If anyone needs an urgent reply, please use the 'contact us' link on the website, which will go to an address that can be picked up by all staff.
We welcome comments and discussion, including robust disagreements. However, the tone of some of the comments on this story have been unacceptable.
Please try to be civil in your postings.
Bob Smith
Editorial director
Steve
24 April 2014Thanks Bob for sorting out these issues. Now that you're back I feel brave enough to make a comment.
I have mentioned this article and the now removed comments to several of my mountaineering friends. We all thought the removed comments were hilarious. Moreover, unlike it seems all the other commentators, we agree with A Piglet. I don't doubt that most dog owners love their pets and would do all they could to recover their missing animal. But there are more deserving causes for money like this.
A Piglit
27 April 2014I really didn't realise when I stuck my snout in what a stir I'd cause.
GenuineSORRY Bob that your esteemed organ descended into mayhem as a result. If I'd realised I would not have posted but who for goodness sake would have guessed.
The threats of violence of a physical and sexual nature didn't bother me as ham quite happy to deal with conflct professionally they and did not IMHO constitute any criminal offences.
My suspicion is that many of the posters were not regular Grough troughers but folks who had set up notifications for news about animals
You can repost em if you like!
Oinxxxx
End-ex as they say in the forces
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