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December 28 2014
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Dog walkers warn of WV cougars
Trail users say large cats have been stalking them BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
North Shore professional dog walkers are warning the public of likely cougar activity in the trails above the British Properties. There have been numerous close calls in recent weeks, especially on the District of West Vancouver’s Ballantree Trail, according to Barry Rueger, spokesman for the North Shore Professional Dogwalkers’ Alliance. “We tend to be up in that area a lot,” Rueger said. “The walkers have pretty much got it covered. They know what’s up. It’s just that over the holidays, there are likely to be a lot more of the general public hiking up there and taking their dogs up to go for walks. It’s probably good for them to know there might be an animal up there that could be a risk to them.” Stef Launay, a dog walker with Release the Hounds, has had two frightening encounters. Three weeks ago she was walking a group of dogs when one of them bolted off trail after he caught the scent of something interesting. When she caught up with the dog, she found a disturbing scene. “It was a fresh, huge, deer carcass — totally intact, its face and everything, except its
D,($V )V,(\ 5,X a;PQ\( 1;((A *"\X\( P\;5& ; X(,"+ ,Z 5,X& V\ a;PQ& TN $V\ $(;TP& ;9,c\ $V\ 1(T$T&V B(,+\($T\&< /,X a;PQ\(& aV, cT&T$ $V\ ;(\; 5;TPA V;c\ 9\\N N,$T7TNX &TXN& ,Z 7,"X;( ;7$TcT$A TN (\7\N$ a\\Q& ;N5 a;N$ $, a;(N Z\PP,a a;PQ\(&% BKC'C MIKE WAKEFIELD whole middle was thrown open,” she said. The dogs however were more interested in rolling in a “stinky” white residue that had been sprayed in the area, similar to how cougars mark their territory, she noted. Then a week later, another incident. “Obviously the dogs noticed it first and they just started freaking out. They roared up ahead and
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Police crackdown catches drunk drivers JEREMY SHEPHERD jshepherd@nsnews.com
See Sightings page 5
They may get challenged to the odd inebriated boxing match for doing it, but police are zeroing in on drunk drivers anyway. The North Vancouver RCMP took more than three dozen drunk drivers off the road in one night, according to a release
from the detachment. Two drivers are facing criminal charges and 18 motorists are looking at 90-day roadside prohibitions stemming from a crackdown on Friday, Dec. 12. “Especially during this holiday season police want motorists to be safe and happy, free of any impaired driving consequences,”
stated North Vancouver RCMP Supt. Chris Kennedy in the release. On average, 86 British Columbians die every year due to impaired driving, according to a release from the West Vancouver Police Department. North Vancouver police took 53 impaired motorists off North Shore roads between Dec. 3 and Dec.
12, including one Alberta driver who allegedly challenged police to duke it out in a boxing match, and another impaired motorist who is accused of driving his 10-year-old daughter three blocks for an errand. Police also handed a three-day immediate roadside prohibition to a See Operation page 5
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