Marauders Create Air Base Problem
The Air Force has a pet problem that is probably unique in Canada.
It is also causing a certain amount of concern at the RCAF base at Holberg on Vancouver Island.
During the past few months the cat and dog population in the married quarters of the local community dropped off at an alarming rate. In fact a recent nose count hardly drew a sniff.
Air Force personnel were at a loss to understand why the animals failed to return home until one day they spotted large footprints in the mud.
They were cougar tracks.
The problem was reported to the game department and a professional cougar hunter was dispatched to the scene with rifle and two hound dogs.
Round one went to the cougars as far as the RCAF was concerned.
One hound failed to return to base and the second showed up four weeks later, badly chewed, scratched, with one eye in serious condition and half starved. Obviously the result of a tussle with a cougar.
Officers at the base said a total of 17 dogs went missing in six weeks. There are only seven cats and five dogs left in the camp.
"At the present rate they will all be gone in about two more weeks", one official said. Although there has been no report of the large cats attacking humans at the station, personnel are taking no chances.
"We bring the dogs and cats in at night – as well as the kids", the officer said.
AM Hames, 48, of Merville, on Vancouver Island, a cougar hunter of 30 years experience, was flown to Holberg by RCAF Canso aircraft on April 26 for his second attempt to rid the base of the cougars.
He was back up in the project by three hound dogs.
An RCAF official request for new pet stock at Holberg is not planned at the moment.