Thursday, May 12, 2011 Rotary Duck Race about helping kids, as well as potentially winning a Jeep.
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Lost dog
Big guns brought in to search
Washington dogs have narrowed efforts to find a missing pet.
Museum eyes Peace Park The historical society wants to gauge the public’s response to ideas of relocating the museum downtown.
by Maria Rantanen mrantanen@mrtimes.com
Harry Oakes’ job can send him around the United States and the world looking for missing people and pets – but on Sunday, it brought him to Pitt Meadows looking for a lost Pomeranian. The Frankland family hired the search and rescue worker from Longview, Wash., who brought along border-collies Willow and Tyler to help find Teddy, the dog they received from a rescue two years ago. Teddy escaped from the family’s secured fenced yard at 11 a.m. on Friday. Oakes is the owner and search-and-rescue coordinator of International Canine Search and Rescue, a for-profit company that employs 64 people, some part-time, others full-time. Oakes tracked Teddy’s scent to an area five miles from their home, and that’s where the search ended. He started at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday morning from Sawyer’s Landing, through marshes, under the Golden Ears Bridge, and into Maple Ridge. “It was really interesting seeing the dogs work,” Rehana Frankland said. Frankland, her husband Kevin, and her sister Shaneza Bacchus watched as Oakes tried to purposely mislead the dogs to test them, but they wouldn’t allow him and stayed on Teddy’s trail. When they finally reached Dewdney Trunk Road and Laity Street, Oakes said it seemed that Teddy was not going to stop running and their best bet would be to get the word out about the lost dog in that neighbourhood. Frankland was surprised the trail led so far from their home, but when the next day they received a call about a sighting, she knew the tracker must have been on the right trail. Oakes said larger dogs are often used in wilder terrain where there are more predators, but smaller dogs are more useful in earthquake areas to get into smaller spaces. “They both bring a lot to the searchand-rescue [field],” Oakes said. The family spent $1,250 on the tracker
Spirit Square
by Maria Rantanen mrantanen@mrtimes.com
Kevin Frankland photo
Harry Oakes is a search and rescue worker from Longview, Wash., who also looks for lost pets with his tracking dogs Willow and Tyler. and have incurred costs with postering and driving to nearby communities letting the vets and SPCA shelters know about their lost dog. Teddy was rescued from a puppy mill and had been with the family for two years. With “time, love, and patience,” Frankland said they’ve made “great strides” in improving Teddy’s behaviour. Frankland said she can’t figure out why Teddy escaped from their yard and has
continued running because he’s so timid. “It’s so out of character for him,” she said. It’s been almost week since Teddy disappeared, and with that Frankland has experienced “highs and lows.” “It really comes and goes – after the sighting, we were so optimistic,” Frankland said. The Frankland family is offering a reward of $1,000. They can be reached at 778-229-5431.
The Maple Ridge Museum & Archives have locked their sights on the empty lot next to Memorial Peace Park to house Maple Ridge’s historical record. The District of Maple Ridge recently announced it’s reconsidering the use of the piece of property west of the Leisure Centre that was originally slated for a hotel. Options suggested were integrating it into the park or using it for commercial purposes. “Given the recent infrastructure improvements on 224th and the flat nature of the property, it would be far cheaper to build on the Memorial Peace Park site than on the currently proposed site for a Val Patenaude new museum north Maple Ridge Museum director of Haney House,” said Val Patenaude, director of the Maple Ridge Museum. The museum is currently at Haney House and Pateanude said the number of calls to the museum asking to access the archives is continuously increasing. It is also impossible to meet community and researcher demand for access to archival material, according to Patenaude. The Historical Society endorsed relocating the museum to Memorial Peace Park at their Monday evening meeting. The museum could be housed in a building next to the park along with other community groups, for example, the business improvment association, the chamber of commerce, or tourism, Patenaude said. As part of the community consultation on the property, the historical society wants their suggestion in the public to gauge their response. Maple Ridge will host an open house to discuss the future use of the lot on May 16 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Fraser Room (second floor) of the Maple Ridge Library.
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