Open letter to Whitehorse Mayor Dan Curtis:
We wish to draw your attention to the fact that Whitehorse has some of the most caring city workers and we wish to thank them sincerely for their efforts.
On Friday afternoon, July 26, our dogs were being walked in the greenbelt above Rabbit’s Foot Canyon, when our 12-year-old Lab, Willow, left the trail to investigate some ravens on a cliff overlooking the Alaska Highway. He became stuck half-way down the cliff face on a narrow ledge and was in danger of falling 100 feet down a steep slope down to the busy highway.
Four city workers were driving past and spotted the dog. They stopped and one of them, Kevin Wondga, climbed up towards the dog. Kevin spent a most uncomfortable period of over an hour perched on the cliff face trying to encourage the dog to move. In the meantime, his colleagues, Dave Birss, Chuck Hombert and Dean Bennett, assisted by encouraging the petrified dog to make its way diagonally across the cliff face. The dog eventually made his way down to safety, shaken and stressed but uninjured.
Kevin spent well over an hour perched on the cliff face before a rope was lowered to him. He was assisted by his fellow city workers in the precipitous climb, which enabled him to safely ascend the cliff to the path above the canyon.
We are most relieved for the successful outcome and certainly most grateful to these young men for taking the trouble to rescue our dog with little regard for their own personal safety.
We are certainly fortunate in having such caring and considerate workers in our city’s employment and we will be eternally grateful to all four of these young men.
Richard and Dorothy Martin
Whitehorse