Dog survives 50 foot fall near in Grand County

GRAND COUNTY — Grand County Search and Rescue retrieved a dog that was reported to have fallen about 50 feet near the head of Long Canyon in Moab on Saturday.

Nika, a six and a half-year-old Collie mix from Salt Lake City, was visibly uninjured and in a stable position.

Dog rescue in Grand County

Officials concluded a technical rope rescue would be riskier in the dark so they decided to wait until first light to perform the rescue.

Search and Rescue worker, Nadi Ardalan, rappelled down to the dog’s location.

The team then lowered a dog carrier rigged to a litter down towards Ardalan so he could place Nika inside and raise her to safety. Nika had a few scrapes but appeared to be in great shape after her 50-foot fall.

Ardalan said the trickiest part about the rescue was getting Nika into the crate and “butt first finally worked out.”

The rescue is credited to a brilliant team effort by Micah Johnson, Monica Holyoak, Kory Meidell, Frank Mendonca and Jim Webster of Grand County Search and Rescue.

We will update this story with rescue footage in the next few days.