As the Wesley Ridge fire burns between Port Alberni and Parksville, evacuation orders and alerts have been issued to help people stay safe. One of those evacuation alert areas, however, became a danger for a pitbull mix dog that was found chained to a tree.
"I was out at like 6:30 in the morning and I heard a dog crying off into the woods," said Janet O'Reilly, who lives in Whiskey Creek near Cameron Lake. She takes her dogs for a walk each morning on a trail near her home. She didn't know if there were people in the direction of the dog and didn't want to take a risk by approaching in the isolated wooded area.
"I kind of circled back afterwards and heard her crying again. And again, I just wasn't prepared to put me or my dogs into any risk."
At around 4 p.m. O'Reilly's neighbour came to her and said he came across the dog and saw her chained to the tree. The neighbour had two dogs with him and the dog chained to the tree seemed to be uncomfortable with them around so he wasn't able to approach.
"We started calling around everywhere," O'Reilly said. Because of the long weekend many services they called were unavailable. Several RCMP personnel told O'Reilly it was out of their jurisdiction. So without another option she brought the dog water.
When she first saw the dog, O'Reilly said she was angry that someone left her like that for so long. The dog was chained to a tree with less than a metre of allowance. Wear on the tree from the chain indicated the dog had been there for a while.
"I was angry, I was in shock, I was in misbelief," she said. O'Reilly looked around to see if anyone was in the area. She realized the dog had been there for at least 10 hours.
"I saw her there on the chain and I was a bit scared of her so just kind of approached slowly. I (had) loaded up a bag with leashes and treats and water and whatnot so I just put the water down and she didn't seem to be at all afraid of me," O'Reilly said. "She's a big dog but she gave me absolutely no indication that she had any aggression."
O'Reilly took photos and videos, posting them to social media. She was overwhelmed with the number of supportive and positive replies.
She brought the dog home, moving her pets into another part of the house so the found dog had space. O'Reilly was concerned about having the extra animal with her as she had an evacuation plan in place for herself and her pets and didn't know what she would do with the extra dog if conditions with the fire changed.
A volunteer with the Alberni-Clayoquot SPCA saw O'Reilly's posts and went to pick the dog up and bring it to the SPCA branch.
Alberni-Clayoquot SPCA community animal centre manager, Sam Sattar, said the dog is doing great, she's been named Eve in honour of O'Reilly's middle name, Evelyn.
"She's a little timid at first but she warms up pretty quickly and she's made a lot of friends with the staff here," said Sattar. "The dog is in really great shape. She is about two years old approximately, we didn't really find anything traumatically bad or as if she was mistreated or neglected."
Sattar said Eve's fur, skin and teeth are all in really good shape, meaning her situation is a complete mystery. Eve has no tattoo or microchip and nobody has come forward to say she belongs to them.
He said if people under evacuation orders are concerned about what to do with their animals while they figure out what to do, they can reach out to the SPCA for emergency boarding of pets.
Eventually if nobody comes forward to claim her, Eve will put up for adoption.
Earlier this week O'Reilly was reunited with Eve during a special visit at the SPCA.
"I get emotional over this a lot, but I think I just needed some closure for myself, to know that she was in somebody else's hands. And I totally got it," O'Reilly said. "Just knowing that she was cared for there and I didn't have to hold that on me anymore."
O'Reilly said the SPCA team was amazing and showed her how responsive Eve is with commands like "sit" and "lay down."
She hopes somebody comes forward with information about Eve's owner, she also hopes Eve finds an amazing new home.
"I think she'll have the pick of the litter when she goes for adoption," O'Reilly said.
