Major II and the Fugitive

The Chilliwack, B.C. Police Dog Services was contacted on March 2, 1977 after a convict had escaped custody while on a fishing expedition along the Fraser River. Arriving on the scene, the team of Cpl. Barter and Major II soon picked up a track. The track followed the river bank, crossed a road and led into a wooded area where the escapee, carefully picking his route, avoided open areas. After several dead ends, the trail crossed the Trans Canada Highway and went up Mount Cheam.

As the team worked the track up the mountain the terrain became so steep Major had to be taken off leash. Two or three hundred feet below the snow line the track veered left across a field and re-entered the woods. Major continued up a steep embankment, disappeared from view and seconds later, yelped loudly and barked once. Sensing that the dog was injured, Cpl. Barter tried five times to recall Major but he did not return. Scrambling up the bank Barter caught a glimpse of the suspect fleeing into a wooded area. At the same time he saw Major, bleeding badly from his left front shoulder and chest, attempting to return. Major fell to the ground but before he could be reached he arose, and, still bleeding, returned to his pursuit of the suspect. Following the trail of blood Cpl. Barter found Major in a clearing standing guard over the escapee.

Cpl. Barter's police instincts, re-enforced by Major's injuries, made him approach with caution. Movements made by the prisoner towards a bag on his shoulder caused Barter to believe he was going for a weapon and, reacting to the danger, he shot the prisoner in the leg.

Within minutes, a helicopter from Agassiz arrived to evacuate the prisoner and the wounded dog.

A search of the prisoner failed to produce a weapon nor was any knife or similar instrument located despite an extensive search throughout the tracking area by Condor, another dog from Coquitlam detachment.

The fugitive Major had apprehended at great peril recovered fully from his wounds and was later sentenced to six months for escaping lawful custody.

Major was taken to Cheam View Veterinary Hospital where examination disclosed that a three and one half inch deep knife wound had severed the jugular vein as well as a large throat nerve causing severe blood loss. His chances of survival were slight. However, the operation was successful and within two weeks he was returned to full duty.

The search and tracking in this instance had lasted for six hours over a trail which led along a river, across a road, through a bush, across the Trans Canada Highway, and finally, straight up Mount Cheam to a vertical elevation of 1,300 feet from the river.