A Washington state man has been reunited with his beloved dog who was stolen during a trip to B.C. last weekend.
Bellingham resident Frank Choltco-Devlin left his dog Wyatt inside his pickup truck when he went rock climbing at the Stawamus Chief in Squamish on Sunday.
When returned to his parking spot, the only sign of the vehicle or Wyatt was the detached ignition from his truck.
Choltco-Devlin frantically searched for Wyatt in Squamish until Monday night, when he heard the dog might have been spotted in Kelowna.
Mounties had received a tip that two men were selling stolen property out of a different stolen vehicle, which they tracked to a 7-Eleven parking lot on Lakeshore Road. Inside was a chocolate Labrador retriever with no ID.
Choltco-Devlin drove all night, and arrived in Kelowna at 6 a.m. Tuesday – his 30th birthday – to find Wyatt safe and sound.
“It was just overwhelming joy,” he told CTV News on the way home from Kelowna. “It was the best birthday present I could ever ask for, that’s for sure.”
One suspect was arrested in the vehicle, though another fled on foot and hasn’t been found.
Accused is a 35-year-old Ontario man who faces charges of possession of stolen property.
Choltco-Devlin and his climbing partner had wallets, phones, keys and two bicycles stolen along with the truck. Just one phone has been recovered.
He said all of the things that were stolen are replaceable except for Wyatt, but it will still be a while before he goes back to Squamish to climb the Chief.
“It was a pretty traumatic experience,” he said. “I don’t want to come and park in that lot and risk having my entire life stolen.”
Squamish RCMP say they will ramp up security in parking lots, especially at the Chief and Shannon Falls Provincial Park. They’ve even put forth a proposal to install video surveillance in the parking lots.
