Dog snared in Carmi area has couple urging caution
After their dog became trapped in a hunting snare while hiking last week in the Carmi area east of the city, a Penticton couple is warning others to use caution when out in the woods there.
Ted and Ivy Farkas were out with their twoyear-old dog, Kai, on the Carmi ski trail network, when the normally obedient pooch ran ahead out of view and didn’t return
"I called him and he didn't come. I called him again, no," Ivy recalled.
After searching for some time, they eventually located Kai down a ravine caught in a snare wrapped around a stump. The trap was roughly five meters off the trail.
"It's like a rabbit snare, only for larger animals with a heavier wire. It was sort of cutting into his neck and that's why he wasn't whimpering or barking," Ivy said.
"My wife's got the good hearing, I'm practically deaf – honest to God. She said she heard his whimpering," Ted recalled. "He was practically strangled. It was a real tight thing."
After locating Kai, removing the snare presented another challenge. Once they had Kai detached from the tree stump, they were able to get to a nearby residence, where a couple tried to cut the snare with some wire cutters.
"I don't know how (Kai) was still breathing," Ted said. "I don't know if it was by luck or design, but there's a little mechanism the way it's set up so you can undo it. We didn't know because it was buried in his fur."
Ted demonstrated the latch which can be undone and the wire fed through to loosen the snare.
Kai was a bit sluggish the next day and needed some help drinking water. After a trip to the vet, though, Kai is in good spirits with just some soft-tissue damage and a bit of inflammation.
"Everyone was horrified by this because of all the people that go up there. It could have been a child," Ivy said.