A North Saanich resident says she is still hoping for the best as the community-wide search for her dog Bailey continues, a search complicated by COVID-19.
Corrine Cook says Bailey, an 11-year-old female Chihuauha/Pomeranian/Shitzu cross gone missing since March 27, means the world to her.
“She is my child,” said Cook. “She has been with me wherever I go. She always wants to be me with me and I am usually the same with her.”
Speaking with the Peninsula News Review just before the Easter holiday, Cook said the search for Bailey is ongoing. Two organizations assisting with the search for animals — Find Lost and Escaped Dogs (FLED) and Reuniting Owners with Animals Missing (ROAM) — are also part of the search and have seen Bailey’s counterfeit appear in signs around the Saanich Peninsula.
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Cook estimates that up to 50 people in her neighbourhood alone are part of the search, which has also drawn a lot of views on social media.
“We have had more than 40,000 views and more 1,000 combined shares [on Facebook] with ROAM and FLED combined,” she said. FLED has also put Bailey on its Code Red callout page as possibly stolen.
Cook said Bailey went missing on March 27 after she had taken Bailey for a walk to get the mail.
“I took her off the leash and typically she would just come with me upstairs.”
But this time, Bailey wanted to sniff around the property of Cook’s employer at Frizell Road off West Saanich Road, where she works as a bookkeeper. Some five to 10 minutes later, Bailey was gone without any trace of activity that might have hinted at her fate. The security camera of a neighbour also revealed nothing.
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Leeann Moir, a friend of Cook, who dog-sat Bailey, said in a note to the Peninsula News Review that searchers are exploring all options, but COVID-19 has stopped searchers from reaching local residents who could be looking in their back yards to get sightings. Ultimately, Moir believes somebody took Bailey.
“Because there were no sounds, signs or sightings, we believe Bailey was taken by someone since she was very friendly and would go up to anyone,” said Moir. “They would not likely have had a dog themselves as she is very barky to other dogs and Corrine would have heard that.”
Moir said searchers considered that wild animals might have captured Bailey, but deems that unlikely since eagles have plenty of food right now and that she might be too heavy and there was no sound.
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“There have been no cougar sightings at all in that area and the owls in the area are small and it was daylight when she went missing,” she said. “This leaves us with the likelihood that Bailey saw someone or chased a squirrel to the front near the road and someone picked her up and either walked or drove off with her.”
For Cook, Bailey’s absence and the uncertainty surrounding her fate has been difficult to bear.
“I cry every day, and I feel guilty,” said the 53-year-old. “I’m at work because I have to come to work. I am a bookkeeper and I have things like payroll to do. I don’t eat, I cry constantly, I am not able to sleep, I think of all sorts of scenarios that could have happened to her. It’s awful.”
Anyone with any information leading to Bailey’s safe return or even a sighting are asked to call ROAM immediately at 778-977-6260, email petsearch@roambc.org, contact FLED at 250-479-0911 or email info@fledsearch.ca.
A reward will be given for Bailey’s safe return.
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