It is an amazing tale of survival.
Dog walker Annette Poitras spent more than two days lost in the backcountry of Eagle Mountain in Coquitlam with three dogs.
They were all rescued alive and safe Wednesday afternoon, and now more details are coming to light about how they survived the rain and the elements.
Here’s a picture of Annette Poitras in hospital, alongside her husband Marcel, that was sent to Global News on Thursday night:
Marcel, Annette’s husband, told Global News on Thursday that the dogs helped his wife stay alive.
“One of them was cuddling [her] and one of them was on guard and the other one was looking for food,” he said.
Annette was with a collie named Chloe, a boxer named Roxy and a puggle named Bubba. They didn’t leave her side, even though one of them initially wandered off when Annette fell and hurt herself.
But luckily, that dog came back and then all four of them stayed together until they were rescued.
Despite having no water or food, it appears the group took care of each other as best they could.
Annette also learned a survival tip from the dogs.
“We can learn a lot of things from dogs.”
Annette will remain in hospital until at least Friday. She didn’t break any bones, but she is in quite a lot of pain and is not able to walk yet.
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Marcel said his wife lost her cellphone when she fell around 5 p.m. on Monday.
She actually saw a rescue helicopter flying over her Monday night, but due to the dense brush and trees rescuers didn’t see her, even though she was waving her jacket.
So she knew she had to move.
“Her knees are all bruised from crawling through the dirt,” said Marcel.
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Volunteer search crews celebrate Coquitlam missing dog walker’s rescue -
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Coquitlam mayor praises massive volunteer search efforts to find missing dog walker -
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Missing dog walker found alive after two days in Coquitlam backcountry -
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Coquitlam RCMP on missing dog walker’s rescue and condition -
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Coquitlam RCMP confirm missing dog walker found -
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Reaction from missing Coquitlam dog walker’s husband -
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Missing Coquitlam dog walker found safe and sound
Almost 100 volunteer search and rescue members from across B.C. worked around the clock to find Annette and the three dogs and bring them home.
“You don’t want those guys being emotional, right? But they’re also very compassionate, and they would drop anything to give me an update, show me what was going on. Communications were great.
“You know, these people are doing this on their own time. They’re leaving their job, what they get paid to do to pay their mortgage, to come out and help people that need the help. So you know what, support them. They deserve it.”
Marcel said that after his wife is released from hospital they are hoping things will get back to normal.
“So that’ll be a great time and yeah, we’re just going to get back to normal.”
For more on the Coquitlam Search and Rescue team and how you can help them, check out their website.
-With files from Jordan Armstrong
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