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Kayakers find stranded dog lost for 11 days Caitlin Dowling
cdowling@nsnews.com
A dog feared dead after 11 days away from home has been reunited with its grateful owners. The Vanderkooy family has always known their beloved dog was a bit of a roamer. Japanese shiba Tucker, their pet for nine years, was always running off and getting into scrapes. But when Tucker went missing from the backyard on Sunday, Nov. 28, and the usual calls from neighbours to say he’d been found were not made, Cathy Vanderkooy began to fear the worst. “We thought coyotes may have gotten him,” said Vanderkooy. “He is a Houdini . . . an escape artist. We just figured this was his last escape.” After a week of waiting to hear about the dog’s whereabouts, Vanderkooy called her daughter who is studying in France to impart the bad news, and the family prepared a funeral for their pet. But on Thursday, Dec. 9, two men were kayaking through Lynn Creek when they heard barking. James Mole and friend Keith Klapstein slowed down to investigate. They looked up to see the dog up on a bluff in a bad state. Mole said the point where the dog was standing was virtually inaccessible to people and that they were lucky to have heard the dog over the sound of the rushing water. Mole noted it was an odd See Creek page 5
NEWS photo Paul McGrath
CHRIS Vanderkooy, 16, is reunited with his dog Tucker after the pet went missing for 11 days and was found by two kayakers on a bluff above Lynn Creek.
Crews’ daring rescues stranded hiker
Air force helicopter braves 85 km/h winds on Cypress Mountain James Weldon
jweldon@nsnews.com
A North Shore hiker is safe and sound after being plucked from the back of Cypress Mountain in conditions his rescuers described as among the worst they’d ever seen. The victim was on his way back from a day hike in the Cypress
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backcountry Wednesday afternoon when a change in the weather slowed him down and drove him off track. As the light began to fade, he realized he’d be unable to find his way back. The man activated his emergency beacon and phoned 9-1-1. The call was relayed to rescuers, who launched a search. A rescue team travelling by foot made voice contact with the hiker at about 8 p.m. and soon spotted his headlamp on a steep snow slope on the far side of a gully. With dangerous terrain between the team and the victim, and
with a serious risk of avalanche in the area, the rescuers called on Canadian Forces based in Comox for help. A Cormorant helicopter reached the area a short time later, but it quickly became apparent the extraction was going to be extremely difficult. While the aircraft was in the clear, the ridge where the man was stuck was shrouded in cloud. Poor visibility can cause a pilot to lose reference and spin out of control. The crew was also facing a ferocious 85-kilometre-per-hour downdraft, which could have driven a less powerful helicopter into the ground. The flight crew chose to drop down the slope to a point where See Helicopter page 5
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