Central Okanagan Search and Rescue (COSAR) volunteers were out overnight on April 24 scouring the Angel Springs and K.L.O. Creek area for a hiker who might be injured or missing. Following an extensive search, they now believe no one was in danger and the call was a false alarm.
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Search manager Duane Tresnich said COSAR got the call around 8 p.m. after returning hikers called the RCMP and reported hearing distant whistles and what they believed were calls for help. Although Friday night’s search turned up nothing, Tresnich stressed that the hikers did exactly the right thing by alerting the authorities when they believed someone needed help.
Tresnich said 16 searchers swept the trails, blowing whistles and calling out to see if they could get a response. The search went on from 8 p.m. until around midnight.
There was response to the searchers’ calls. Tresnich said the fact that no vehicles were left at trailheads in the area and no one has been reported missing suggests there was no one in need of help on the trail to begin with. He suggested the possibility that the sounds the hikers heard was a female cougar’s mating call which can sound like cries for help.
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