A four-year-old dog had a lucky escape last night after chasing a rabbit and falling 10ft down an open mine shaft at Scorrier, near Redruth.
Sonia and Joe Dunnett took their dogs Bell and Buster for a walk with a friend's dog Oscar yesterday afternoon.
On the way back, Bell spotted a rabbit and disappeared.
The couple, from Bewdley in Worcestershire, who are looking after the Wheal Rose Camping and Caravan park for a week searched for the lost Jack Russell for four and a half hours and finally found her stuck on a ledge down an open mine shaft.
Mrs Dunnett said: "Luckily she had fallen on the ledge because if she had gone back any further she would have gone down and we don't know how deep it is.
"These men were going to get a rope and dangle me down but I said this is too dangerous we need to get the fire service."
Firefighters from Redruth and Camborne were called to the scene and they used ropes and a ladder to rescue the trapped pooch.
Mrs Dunnett said: "They put the ladder down and one of them was in a harness and went down. There was another one in a harness holding on to him.
"It was quite precarious because we did not know if the ledge would hold.
"The one that went down, he had to hold on to Bell quite tight because she gets very frightened and she is frightened of men which is unfortunate.
"She started nipping apparently."
Luckily, Bell was not hurt in her misadventure although she did need a bath.
Mrs Dunnett added: "We are so, so grateful to the fire service, they were very good."
