Pipestone Flyer
~ a personal view on this city’s assets by Dominique Vrolyk ~
A recent tragedy and a chance encounter recently brought to my mind the ‘pet tags’ system initiated by several Canadian municipalities. A young friend who moved from Leduc to the New Sarepta area was involved in a car accident on Saturday September 15, and her two dogs ran from the accident site, understandably traumatized: one dog was found shortly after by a nearby farmer. Chelsea Mackenzie suffered bumps and bruises, and a broken heart as she worried about the fate of her American Pit son, Mafia. By the next day’s morning, it was not found, but he has tags on him, so as many concerned friends and family members are looking for him between the old home in Leduc and the new place, it is hoped there will be a happy resolution to this sad situation…
On a lighter note, I was at Telford Lake last Saturday attending the Big Boat Regatta, when I met this nice young man, his girlfriend and his gorgeous pup, a 4-year-old bull terrier named Sharky. It turns out that the pup had escaped his yard in North Telford, and thirty minutes later as his dad was frantically searching the neighborhood for him, he received a call on his cell phone. I was happy to hear of such a happy conclusion, I asked a few questions, and the young man is Tom Dumbrack, owner (with his dad Brent)of Sandy’s CB Shoppe on the Leduc Truck Stop site. It seems that Sharky is a favorite host of Sandy’s customers, and his tags also bear the shop’s number. Good thinking!
When our beloved feline son QT disappeared for forty-three days this past winter, we were frantic, and I must admit, I was quite sad… every day!! QT did not have tags or a collar at the time, and we will never know where he was for all that time! He showed up one day, skin and bones, on our former next door neighbor Kathy’s doorstep, and I immediately went to the City of Leduc office, to make him “all legal”. All I had to do then was to buy him another collar, and tell him he had to wear it! Now we know about this priceless service our City offers: on www.leduc.ca, there is a site that keeps track of local pets, and you can visit that website if you find a lost pet with city tags on its collar.
So how much is it worth to you (a lifetime fee!) to know that if your pet accidentally escapes the safe confines of its yard, you can hope and pray that a good Samaritan will find him or her, and call you, or the City line (or visit that website..). Both my cats now wear tags, and because we love them dearly, it does offer us some peace of mind!