A Jack Russell stranded on a 13th-floor ledge for two days has been dramatically rescued from a Sydney apartment block after a tense operation that left onlookers holding their breath.
Ellbie went missing on Anzac Day after slipping out of a Dee Why apartment on the other side of the building. Her disappearance sparked a frantic search by Jake Dobrin, who was caring for the dog for the first time while his father, Alex Dobrin, was overseas in Thailand.
“I was scared for number one for my life and also for my dog’s life,” Jake said.
After heading out for the afternoon, Jake returned to find Ellbie gone. He quickly began searching and put up flyers offering a reward for her safe return.
Alex said the family initially struggled to work out how the dog could have escaped.
“Did she go through the gap? We said, well, she can’t because she’s too fat,” Alex said.
He added, “The poor fella, I must have called him a hundred times. Funnily enough, this was a test for him.”
The breakthrough came on Monday morning when Fernando Westin noticed one of the flyers and decided to use his drone to search the building from above.
“I go inside all the balconies and then when I go to this side, she was here,” Westin said.
Ellbie had somehow made her way about 40 metres along the outside of the building to the north-west side, where she became wedged between a window and metal bars outside resident Marty’s apartment. Marty had kept his blinds closed throughout the weekend and had no idea the dog was there until he opened them.
“Opened up the blind, looked over the edge and there was a poor little bugger,” he said.
Terrified and unable to move, Ellbie remained stuck until firefighters carried out a careful three-hour rescue. With patience and precision, they were able to get her safely back inside through the window.
“We want to do our best to save its life. So, yeah, I’m glad we did that today,” one firefighter said.
Alex could hardly believe the outcome.
“It’s a Hollywood moment, isn’t it, really? Unbelievable,” he said.
Jake was overcome with relief once Ellbie was finally safe.
“I was over the moon, you know. I thought, I didn’t know I was going to see her again,” he said.
After spending more than 48 hours on the ledge, Ellbie was badly in need of food and water. She has since been fed, given water, showered and taken to the vet as a precaution, and now has an Anzac Day story of her own.
