MUNISING TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A dog was rescued and reunited with family last week after falling from a cliff along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Dancer, a 3-year-old pup from Minnesota, was rescued the night of Jan. 10 after falling a great distance from a cliff along the shore of Lake Superior, officials reported last week. Dancer reportedly got off her leash and fell from a cliff near Miners Castle, landing on a ledge 60 feet below.
The dog’s owners searched for Dancer for hours, but couldn’t find her in the dark and believed she hadn’t survived the fall, according to the Pictured Rocks Facebook page. But Dancer did survive the fall and was spotted later that night.
Park rangers worked with a local rope rescue team to save Dancer the next morning. The dog was “cold, but alive” when she was recovered from a “treacherous section of Lake Superior shoreline,” officials said.
“Though she had spent the night trying to keep warm, she was excited to see rescuers,” the park wrote on social media. “Dancer, who has been described as a ‘professional troublemaker,’ has been reunited with her Minnesota-based family and is recovering well.”
Miners Castle, located in Munising Township in the Upper Peninsula, is one of the most well-known landmarks along Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior. Visitors are allowed to bring leashed pets to the cliffside, but are urged to keep their pets on a leash of no more than 6 feet long, and to be prepared for “slippery, cold conditions that can change quickly” in the winter.
Pets are not allowed on certain trails and beaches that are part of Pictured Rocks. Visit the park’s website here for more information on their pet rules.