A man and his dog died while hiking on a mountain in Abruzzo, central Italy. Marco Ferretti and his dog, a Siberian husky, were hiking together when the dog fell into a crevasse; Ferretti suffered a fatal fall of roughly 50 feet as he attempted to reach his dog.

The incident was witnessed by other hikers as well as Ferretti’s partner, who was hiking with him. Despite immediate response from emergecy services, including a helicopter and medical personnel, Ferretti was declared dead at the scene.

His dog was recovered as well, but had sustained severe unjuries and passed away shortly afterwards.

While attempting to reach one’s dog may be the first thing on most dog owners’ mind in a similar predicament, rescue services advise against attempting to rescue the stricken pet and to call for help instead.

A similar situation, albeit with a far happier ending, occurred in July 2020 at Bull Point, Devon, after a walk went awry: after German shepherd named Marley tumbled over the edge of a cliff, the owner climbed down to help his dog – but found himself unable to get back up the 40 foot cliff. Both were rescued by RNLI volunteers.

Coxswain Carl Perrin said at the time, “We would like to remind everyone to please keep their dogs on leads if they’re walking close to cliff edges and remember the best thing to do if your pet gets into trouble at the coast is don’t enter the water yourself, instead call 999 and ask for the Coastguard. We’re all very glad there was a positive outcome in this case.”

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