KAUPO — A thirsty, adult female border collie mix was plucked from what appeared to be an inaccessible ledge above crashing surf in Kaupo yesterday, with a firefighter lowered to the dog by the Maui Fire Department’s Air One helicopter.

“It's a mystery as to how the dog ended up where it was,” said Dale Netz, director of client and field services at the Maui Humane Society.
Yesterday afternoon, the black-and-white dog was at the society’s Puunene shelter in “pretty good shape,” Netz said. “It appears to be healthy.”
Kula resident William Kukona Jr., a 16-year-old St. Anthony Junior Senior High School student, said he was camping with family members over the weekend in the area near Kalepa Bridge when he noticed the stranded dog while checking on a lobster trap with his sister, Shasta Haole-Domen, 25.
“It was just laying on the rocks. It got up when we whistled,” he said.
Kukona said he called the Fire Department, which took about an hour to respond to the scene with the helicopter. He said he directed the firefighters to the dog, which had moved as far away as it could on the rock ledge inward while waves crashed below it.
“Sure enough, they got it,” he said.
Kukona said he had difficulty understanding how the dog got where it was because there was no apparent access to the ledge other than by boat.
“I was very confused how the dog got there in the first place,” he said, adding that the only way to reach it would be to swim to it.
Fire Department Battalion Chief Frank Tam said the call about the stranded dog came in at about 9:30 a.m.
He said he spoke with Kukona, who told him that if nobody was going to attempt to save the dog then he might try to swim to it at the base of a 200-foot sheer cliff. Tam said he decided to go get the dog, rather than have Kukona risk his safety, and use the rescue as a training exercise.
A crew with the Air One helicopter took a little more than an hour to pick up the dog, launching at 12:14 p.m. and dropping the dog off with animal control officers waiting at Kaupo Church at 1:26 p.m., Tam said.
Netz praised firefighters for the rescue, saying, “it was a great service.”
“We were very happy to help save this dog,” she said.
The dog had no tag or tattoo to identify its owner, Netz said.
The Humane Society has a fund dedicated to help pay for animals in need of rescue, she said. However, she could not say if the fund was going to be tapped to help pay for the helicopter rescue.
Anyone who might want to claim the dog can call the Maui Humane Society at 877-3680.