Keir Starmer interrupts holiday to help find lost dog in Lake District

11 August 2023 , 18:59

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Nine-year-old Chilli was stranded for several days before he was rescued

Keir Starmer helped to find a dog that was lost for several days during his summer holiday in the Lake District. The Labour leader handed out posters when Chilli, a crossbred retriever and springer spaniel owned by his friends, went missing.

The nine-year-old dog fell about 360ft (109m) from a cliff during a walk near Helm Crag. Daniel Rogers and Emma Charvet from Brighton launched a search before their beloved pooch was eventually found on a steep slope on Wednesday.

Volunteers from the local mountain rescue team had to be drafted in to help bring the dog to safety. Ten people were involved in the rescue effort. Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team posted on Facebook: “Chilli the dog was on some seriously steep ground and had been there for four days. The team lowered some team members down to the Chilli and hauled him to the top, from where he could be carried down to the valley bottom and be seen by a vet.”

Volunteers from Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team carried Chilli to safety (Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team)

Ms Charvet is friends with Mr Starmer’s wife Victoria. The two couples happened to be on holiday in the same area at the same time. Chilli disappeared while on a walk from Grasmere. Ms Charvet told the Wesmorland Gazette: "He is a dog that stays with us, he was with us all the way up. Literally, one moment he was with us and the next he vanished.

"I turned around to Daniel and said 'where is he?' I panicked straight away. We searched in the area for quite a long time, no-one had seen anything, no-one had heard anything, we just felt he must have fallen. We couldn't get down because it was really steep there so we decided to go around. We spent the whole day there and came back and the next day we took to social media. The community were just incredible - we had so much support, people were coming to help."

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The dog was eventually found thanks to a local climber who went out looking after seeing an appeal on a website. Chilli suffered head injuries during the fall but is expected to make a full recovery.

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John Stevens