A 61-year-old man in the southern Alberta town of Taber trapped in a muddy ditch for two days could have been there a lot longer if it wasn’t for his dog — an Akita named Hero.
“It could have been a missing persons investigation that was reported to us,” said Const. Austin Weersink with the Taber Police Service.
Police believe the man got stuck in mud while walking in the area, a location he frequents often with his two dogs: Hero and Tora. He was unable to move, and the location was out of clear sight from the road.
Then, on Thursday morning, police received a call about a large dog on the loose just north of the sugar refinery in Taber — a town about 270 kilometres southeast of Calgary.
When officers arrived, they couldn’t locate the dog.
Dog attack leads to rescue
A few hours later, police received another call regarding the same area. This time, it was a man who said he was with his dog when they were attacked by another large dog.
The dog who was responsible for the attack was Hero, Taber police said in a post to Facebook. When police arrived on scene again they saw Hero laying on a berm and whistled to get his attention.
Weersink says that’s when he heard a loud cry for help.
A dog named Hero saves his owner’s life
Living up to his name, an Akita breed dog in Taber, Alta., named Hero saved the life of his owner by protecting him from the elements, fighting off coyotes and eventually alerting people to his owner’s whereabouts — stuck in a muddy ditch, unable to move for two days in temperatures as cold as –17 C.
“I looked to my left where the individual who had been attacked was sitting in his vehicle, but his window was [rolled] up,” he said. “So I whistled again, and the shriek came again and said, ‘Help, I’m down here.'”
Weersink called for Hero to be taken under control, then walked over to where he heard the scream coming from to find the man lying on his back.
“The tall grass … it’s extremely tough to see someone in there,” said the police officer.
‘He really truly lives up to his name’
Police say Hero’s owner was able to tell them that his loyal companion stayed by his side and kept him warm as temperatures dropped, and may have even fought off coyotes.
The man was rescued and taken to the Chinook Regional Hospital in the nearby city of Lethbridge, Alta.
Emergency crews in Taber, Alta., rescued the 61-year-old dog owner that was reportedly ‘lodged in mud up to his hips’ after police received reports of a dog attack in the area. (Submitted by Steve Swarbrick)
His dogs, Hero and another Akita named Tora, were taken in by the Taber’s Lost Paws Society while he recovered.
“[Hero] was obviously quite anxious, confused, but quite calm actually,” said Alana McPhee with the Lost Paws Society.
“He was involved in fighting because he was really just protecting his owner.… I guess you could say he really truly lives up to his name.”
Dog attack victim recovering
Curtis Dahl, the man whom Hero bit, told CBC News he went to the hospital for his injuries and his dog, Jack, was also treated.
Both are now recovering, but Dahl says he was understanding of the situation after hearing the full story.
“I think [Hero] thought my dog was a threat,” he said. “But once I thought about it, I knew why this dog did what he did.”
The Lost Paws Society has since launched a fundraising campaign for all of the pets involved that sustained injuries, as Tora also had a rod in a previously broken leg that had some screws come loose from likely “frantically running between the place her owner was trapped and her residence.”
McPhee says she can tell both dogs are looking forward to being reunited with his owner.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
