Anyone who owns a dog will understand the anguish of a Courtenay woman who is taking time off work to find her lost pet.
Kacey Wall hasn’t seen her two-and-a-half-year-old husky/shepherd cross, Beira, since hiking in Strathcona Park Sunday, Aug. 11. She and some friends were on their way to Circlet Lake, along with another husky, when Beira took interest in a tree, likely because of squirrels. Wall didn’t pay attention for about 10 minutes before noticing the dogs were gone. She called, but only the other husky came back.
“I spent all day searching for her,” Wall said. “Chris (her partner) came up to the hill, and we spent three days beating up the trails calling her. I’ve put in over 120 kilometres of hiking; hiked in from the back from Forbidden Plateau.”
Wall adopted Beira in June, 2018. Before that, the dog had been tied up outside for most of her life until being rescued by the Victoria Humane Society. The fur around her neck was worn and her coat scraggy. While tethered to a line, she gave birth to a litter of five puppies. With no shelter, Beira dug a den under a cement slab to protect them.
Because she had parvo, a contagious and potentially deadly virus, Beira was hospitalized for a week before coming home with Kacey and Chris. At first, she was scared and shy of people, but obedience classes and trips to the kennel helped to socializing her.
Eventually, Beira became a decoy dog for reactive dog training at Country Canine Care in Union Bay.
“She means the world to us,” Wall said. “We’ll do anything to get her back.”
The last confirmed sighting of Beira was on the east fork logging road in the Cruikshank Canyon, where the Comox District Mountaineering Club snapped a photo of her.
“We’ve been searching all week long, we’ve been driving logging roads, we have a Facebook Page up for her (Find Beira). The one post has almost 30,000 shares.”
Other people and groups are helping with the search. A retired sled dog group has donated trail cams.
“We’re doing everything we can to get her home.”
In case anyone spots Beira, Wall implores not to call or move towards her because she will think the person is a predator and will run away. Instead, she asks the public to call or text the location and time.
Call Wall at (250) 650-1410, or Chris at (902) 824-4737.
Visit the Facebook page at bit.ly/2P5uAuV
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