A golden retriever named Delta emerged a hero after locating a missing girl in Courtenay early Wednesday as temperatures slipped below freezing.
Paul Berry of Comox Valley Search and Rescue said the 13-year-old girl was reported missing from her home about 10 p.m. Tuesday in an urban area of east Courtenay.
RCMP initiated a search immediately and just after midnight requested help from Comox Valley Search and Rescue.
The group scrambled 15 members to start the search as well as Delta, two-year-old male golden retriever.
The girl was spotted just before 2:30 a.m., Berry said.
“Delta actually made the connection with her and allowed her to come with us and be reunited with her family,” he said. “It was a good outcome.”
Delta is the newest member of the Comox Valley Search and Rescue team and the most recently validated search dog, Berry said. The pack is now up to four dogs.
“He’s very highly skilled at locating people and has a handler who has worked with the three other dogs on our team,” Berry said.
Berry said dogs are deployed when the search-and-rescue group is called out for missing persons, calling Wednesday’s successful result “an example of how effective the search-and-rescue system is in British Columbia.”
He applauded members of the volunteer-run team, which has played a vital role in the Comox Valley for more than four decades.
Members are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, covering an area from Oyster River in the north to Cook Creek in the south, and Buttle Lake in the west to the Strait of Georgia in the east, including Denman and Hornby islands.
dkloster@timescolonist.com
