A man has drowned after jumping into a fast-flowing creek to save a dog, according to local law enforcement.
The dog also died in the incident, which occurred on Friday evening in Cypress Falls Park, West Vancouver, in the province of British Columbia, Canada, West Vancouver Police said.
The man in his 40s was walking the dog with his wife shortly before 9 p.m. local time when the canine entered Cypress Creek and got swept away by the high, fast-flowing water. The man then rushed into the creek in an attempt to rescue the stricken dog, but was also swept away, The Province reported.
As the water carried the pair downstream, the man’s wife called 911, Sergeant Mark McLean with the West Vancouver Police told CBC News.
Emergency crews from The West Vancouver Fire Department and North Shore Rescue (NSR) subsequently responded to the scene, searching for the man into the night.
The search effort in the dark was “very challenging” thanks to the steep cliffs, unstable embankments, loose rocks and fallen trees, Paul Markey, leader of North Shore’s rescue operation, told CBC.
The waters in the creek were also freezing, turbulent and dangerous, thanks to rapid snowmelt on the nearby Cypress Mountain Friday night triggered by a heat wave. The search was ultimately unsuccessful, with member’s of the man’s family finding his body and that of the dog’s in the creek around 6 a.m. on Saturday morning.
“It was horrendous. Probably the worst possible thing you could imagine,” Markey said.
The man’s family is now being supported by the the police department’s victim services team. Officials have not disclosed the man’s name at the request of the family.
“This was not the outcome we had all hoped for and it is an enormous tragedy for the family of the victim and our community. Our hearts go out to them,” McLean said in a statement.
Markey said NSR had saved at least one dog from drowning in the area previously and warned members of the public to take precautions in these situations.
If you are close to bodies of water, keep your dog on a leash. And if the dog does go in, absolutely do not follow the dog in there and try not to get close to the water,” Markey added.
West Vancouver resident Susanne Zeihr who has walked the nearby trails almost every day for the past three decades said a dog gets swept up into the creek at least every few years.
“It’s tricky and it’s a little bit dangerous when people underestimate it. The current is brutal,” she told CBC. But the dogs get hot…and sometimes with all their training all your best intentions they jump in.
Newsweek has contacted West Vancouver Police for comment by email.
