Every dog owner's worst nightmare came true, January 29, 2023, for Westview, Powell River resident Mark March.
March’s two-year-old dog Tommy was spooked by a bigger dog, causing the black canine to bolt, yanking the leash from his owner's hand. That’s when March started posting to a Powell River message board, asking the community for help to locate Tommy.
“He was spotted on Marine, on Joyce and for a couple hours, people kept posting that they saw him,” said March.
Then the messages stopped around 4:15 pm.
“My partner and I started driving around in the city in our truck, in a panic,” said March. After family and friends searched day and night, the next day they had posters made and started putting them up around the city.
Fast forward to mid-February, March and his partner had planned a trip to Seattle.
“We didn’t really want to go since Tommy was still missing, but it was a family obligation, so we went,” said March.
Then on Sunday, February 12, they received a phone call from a neighbour.
“Our wonderful neighbour heard something crying in our backyard; it turned out to be Tommy,” said March. “I thought 'this is so weird'; I don't know what happened because our yard is fenced in and the gate was closed, there is only one spot where he could have possibly got in.”
“He didn’t have his collar on and he lost around seven pounds, but is 95 per cent back to normal now. You wish they [Tommy] could talk."
Tommy going missing for so long and then being found a few weeks later is still a head-scratcher for March and his partner.
“Someone may have taken him, but decided to give him back,” said March. “It was a very traumatizing experience, but we are glad Tommy is home.”
