Stroke the Dragon aims for a big weekend
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Edible garden tour stops in Lake Cowichan
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Friday, August 28, 2015
Busy stretch for Cowichan SAR ON THEIR TOES: River
rescue one day, forest search the next SARAH SIMPSON CITIZEN
Back-to-back searches on Aug. 18 and 19 had Cowichan Search and Rescue crews on their toes. Cowichan SAR search manager Shauneen Nichols said it’s very common to have multiple calls in a short period of time. “Lots of time it comes in threes,” she said. “It’ll be quiet and then for whatever reason, boom, boom, boom and we just get everything put away and one bit of paperwork done and we’re back out there again.” That’s what happened last week and fortunately, the specialized unit was able to locate everyone that had been reported missing. A visiting group of 15 tubers from Victoria had started their river quest earlier in the day at the Cowichan Lake weir but by nightfall six of the twenty-somethings were unaccounted for. “They were tubing from the weir down to Skutz Falls and had no idea how long that would take,” Nichols said. “So one group got out at Trestle 70.2. It was getting dark so they made the good choice to get out there and walk back to the parking lot.” Another group of three went out a little father before opting to get out of the water.
“It’ll be quiet and then for whatever reason, boom, boom, boom and we just get everything put away and one bit of paperwork done and we’re back out there again.” SHAUNEEN NICHOLS, SAR search manager
“The group of six carried on but they did stop. They did stay put and we were able to locate them,” Nichols said. “Actually it was an RCMP officer that located them and then we helped bring them out. They were on the beach right beside the water in flip flops and bathing suits so they were cold and thirsty and hungry.” By then it was the wee hours of Wednesday morning. “It was a happy ending,” Nichols said. The team was stood down shortly before dawn. But they didn’t rest for long. On Wednesday evening, the team was called out for a missing 80-year-old man between Lake Cowichan and Youbou. “He had gone out in the morning, I believe he was looking for areas to get firewood later on in the season when the woods were more accessible — just doing a drive-around — and he didn’t come home around noon which was unusual for him so his wife got hold of the RCMP,” Nichols said. See MAN LOCATED, Page 5
A big bull elk in the Cowichan Lake area, not unlike those who have been keeping police and conservation officers busy in Youbou recently. [LEXI BAINAS/CITIZEN]
Cougars and elk and bears, oh my! Animals go wild at Cowichan Lake LEXI BAINAS CITIZEN
Nature has been wreaking havoc in the Cowichan Lake area lately, with no fewer than three noteworthy close encounters between humans and wild animals recently. On Tuesday night, a hungry bear wandered into a garage in Lake Cowichan while two boys were skinning a deer, scaring them into the rafters before making off with the carcass. “A bear actually entered the garage and took the deer that was hanging there right off the hook and beetled off out of the
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garage,” Lake Cowichan RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Wes Olsen said. “When the bear came into the garage, the boys actually climbed up into the rafters of the garage to get out of the way. The bear absconded with deer and headed off into the bush.” The boys, ages 13 and 18, weren’t hurt in the incident, but the twice-hunted deer was going to be dinner, one way or another. “Police obviously didn’t pursue the bear into the woods,” Olsen said. Instead they contacted the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.
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Conservation officer Sgt. Scott Norris was in Lake Cowichan on Wednesday to investigate the bear and other reported animal encounters, and discovered some additional details. “The garage door was closed, but the bear pushed the door open and poked his head in.” Norris and other conservation officers tracked it over the Trans Canada Trail, between the house and the old A.B. Greenwell School. Finding the partially consumed deer, they decided to use it as bait.
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