CREWS from BARB, RNLI and the Coastguard were involved in the rescue of a dog at Brean on Sunday morning.

The owner had called for help after his dog had suffered a 40ft fall over the cliffs at Brean Down while out walking.

The frantic owner had tried to scramble down to find the spaniel but was unable to scale the sheer surface. Burnham Coastguard volunteers and the Burnham Area Rescue Boat (BARB) volunteers started searching the waters along Down.

The Coastguard then asked Burnham RNLI lifeboats to search along the water’s edge at the south of Brean Down before Weston RNLI crews, who were in the area on exercise, also offered to help in the search.

The four lifeboats searched both sides of the Down and in the water near the shore with no luck and hope fading of finding the animal.

In a last attempt to find the missing pooch crew members for Weston and Burnham were put ashore to search the shoreline beneath the cliffs, an area fairly inaccessible from the land.

It was on the south side of Brean Down where the Burnham crew found the dog which was described as cold and wet.

The dog had also suffered a cut during the fall. Crews transported the injured dog to Burnham beach where it was reunited with its relieved owner and directed to the nearest vet.

Nigel Congram, the helmsman of the Weston D Class lifeboat said: “It is always rewarding when we can achieve a satisfactory conclusion like this.

“We only rescue animals to avoid their owners getting into trouble trying to rescue them. All we ask is that people are very cautious when walking their dogs near cliffs.”