Lost dog Cara didn’t end up settling in Pender Harbour long enough for owners to nab the frightened pup, and during the past few weeks she’s been sighted wandering the forests and beaches between Roberts Creek and Pender Harbour.
The light brown and white terrier-lab mix ripped through a screen in a vacation home in Hopkins Landing on July 3 when left alone for a few hours. The dog’s owners, Melissa and Manuel Sorge, have been trying to find her ever since.
The couple doesn’t live on the Sunshine Coast and have spent much time, effort and money trying to locate their lost dog and bring her home to Kelowna.
The exhaustive search has included using a drone, trail cameras, animal search experts, a dog tracker, a Facebook page devoted to Cara’s return, hanging hundreds of posters, and dozens of volunteers searching daily by land and sea.
While Cara has been spotted several times, she hasn’t gotten comfortable enough in any one area for searchers to bait and live-trap her, which seems to be the best option after nearly two months of effort to capture her other ways.
Cara was a feral dog before she came to know the Sorges, and Melissa believes she has reverted back to her feral dog ways, which has kept her safe, fed and relatively healthy-looking in the woods.
She asks anyone who sees Cara to contact her at 1-250-859-4622 immediately so the Sorges can continue tracking her whereabouts and sending out searchers to specific areas after several sightings have been reported there.
“Once we can get her into a safe location that she feels safe in, then we can really make good steps towards actually catching her,” Melissa said.
“When she’s constantly on the move, it’s hard for us, but we have been tracking her movements.”
Melissa estimates she’s spent about $3,000 on the search for Cara so far, including the cost she incurred to replace two trail cameras borrowed from the Victoria Humane Society that were stolen during the past two months.
She’s started a GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/whereiscara to try to recoup some of the costs as the family is stretched financially right now with Melissa on maternity leave.
The fund will also help pay for veterinarian bills the Sorges may incur once Cara finally comes home.
