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The cat came back, with help from BC Ferries staff

After Dasher made a dash, staff in Comox found her and got her home safe
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Dasher is back home with mom Christine Girvin thanks to some help from BC Ferries staff. Photo supplied

A cat named Dasher lived up to her name recently, as she bolted from owner Christine Girvin recently at the Comox ferry terminal, just as the last ferry was about to leave.

Girvin lives in Campbell River. Since the new year, she has been going over to Powell River every week for work for a few days at a time, and as she’s gone for a while, she brings along her dog and cat.

Dasher, who’s 16 now, is just getting used to travelling and on the evening of Feb. 9, she got sick in her travel crate. Girvin took her out to clean the crate and was with her outside the terminal. At one point, the cat got scared though and dashed off.

“I had her under my arm,” she said. “It all happened so quickly.”

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Girvin knew the cat was in an area near the terminal in Comox, behind some blackberry bushes. She was hoping to wait until people had left to coax her cat out of the bush, but it was time for the ferry to load. It was also cold out, as Environment Canada reported that temperatures that evening were already below freezing.

“I really didn’t know what my options were,” she said.

She spoke to the terminal attendant Amanda Prowse, who was directing traffic, and explained the situation. She asked if she could get on last. Prowse told her that was fine and said they would help find the cat. Girvin also spoke with chief steward Nicole Provost about what had happened and left contact information with the staff. When she arrived on the other side, she got a phone call about Dasher.

“We let Christine know Dasher was found and safe,” Provost said.

The cat was waiting at the Comox terminal and was lucky to have a willing host for a sleepover.

“I took her home for the night,” Provost said with a laugh. “That night she slept on my pillow.”

She told Girvin they would make arrangements to reunite Dasher with Girvin the next day in Powell River.

Provost and her family had to say goodbye to their own cat only a month or so before, so they still had the litter box and cat food to welcome their guest for the night. She arrived home in Comox late, and her seven-year-old daughter had already gone to bed but came to wake her out of concern a cat had gotten inside the house. Provost laughed, saying she had to explain to her daughter that this was Dasher, who was staying over for the night.

“She was a really cute house guest,” Provost said. “She was really sweet…. She just wanted to be close to us.”

The next day, she brought Dasher on the ferry for the happy reunion.

“They were just so nice,” Girvin said. “It just eased my fears. I could tell I could trust them.”



mike.chouinard@comoxvalleyrecord.com

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