Dog survives 40-foot cliff drop

SOMERSHAM, England, July 28 (UPI) -- A British woman whose dog survived a 40-foot fall from a cliff described her pet as a "walking miracle."

Margaret Sills, 65, said she was visiting England's Isle of Wight with her Golden Retriever, Mac, when the dog chased a rabbit through a bush and over the edge of a cliff, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

Sills, of Somersham, England, said Mac's collar caught on rocks while the dog was falling, absorbing some of the fall.

"It saved his life," she said of the collar. "If he hadn't been wearing one he would have just free-fallen all the way and there's no way he could have survived."

Sills said Mac suffered a collapsed lung and two broken front legs as a result of the fall.

"It is going to take at least six months before he is back to normal and even then he will only have 50 per cent usage in one of his legs," she said. "I can't praise the vets enough for what they have done. I really thought I had lost him.

"He can't walk very far at the moment but compared to how he was a few weeks ago, he is a walking miracle," Sills said.