By CHRIS LLOYD He’s so short his belly almost touches the ground. He weiglis a mere 65 pounds and is only about 2% feet long. But what the Fish and Wildlife Department failed to accomplish over a period of weeks, Dominic the bassett hound achieved in a morning. Dominic - or Preshaw's Dominic, as his full name is - single-leggedly captured a family of black bears that had been plaguing West Vancouver for weeks. Complaints had been pouring in about the bears roaming at will in the British Properties area. They were so brazen they were even seen taking a stroll across the nearby golf course. The sow was considered of particular concern because she was accompanied by three young cubs and nobody wanted to arouse her protective instincts by getting too close. Fish and Wildlife con- servation officers had tried tracking the family and set live traps in the area. But they were no closer to capturing the renegade bear family. Then last week the bears made the mistake of wan- dering into Dominic's territory. They climbed into the yard of his home at 323 Mathers Avenue Wednesday morning and that was their undoing. It was quite a while before even his owners realized what Dominic had done. Mrs. Lucy Pelly heard her bassett barking away outside and called him in, in order to gel sore peace and quiet. Around 10 a.m. she let him back out but he started raising such a ruckus Mrs. Pelly thought some of the local kids must be throwing rocks at him and went out to investigate. It was then that she was confronted by a 300 pound black bear standing just 15 feetin front of her. She wasted no time in getting back inside the house and calling West Van police As luck would have it, two Fish and Wildlife con- servation officers were already in the neighborhood. They'd had reports the previous evening of the bears being spotted in the Wildwood Lane area and North Shore conservation officer Doug Adolph thought Sa, SUMMER SALE rh 10% Be -30% off In Stock Gowns Only Chantilly is pleased to announce the additional service of pro- viding complete floral ar- rangements to match the beauty ot the Bride! it likely the family would still be around the following day. He called his colleague from Abbotsford, Dennis Pemble, told him to bring along his tranquilizer gun and the two arranged to meet bright and early in the morning. They began hunting at 7 a.m. and got a call from the police at 11 a.m. telling them the bear was in Mrs. Pelly's backyard. When they arrived there, the bear was still wandering around the yard. They rushed at her and the bear raced up an 80 ft. fir tree. It was then that everybody found out the reason Dominic had been making all his racket earlier that morning. Right at the top of the same tree, about 20 feet higher than the mother, were the three cubs, which Dominic had chased up there with his barks. Over the next 2% hours it rained bears in the Pelly's yard. First Pemble fired his tranquilizer-pun at the sow. She slowly started climbing down the tree and fell the last 40 feet, landing unharmed on a bed of leaves and branches. Then one of the cubs came down the same way, OFFICE PERBONNEL Julle Elford, Sylvia Gowans TEMPORARY — PERMANENT OA OFFICE ASSISTANCE We save you the search 107 — 140 W 165 Street. North Vancouver 984-0251 — Store Wide — Flowers by GERTIE TODD Chantull, Bridal Boutique (we've moved to -) 1829 Lonsdale Ave. ¢ 986-2621 but from a greater height, when the conservation officer fired at it. The tree branches were so thick that Pemble had difficulty getting the other two cubs in his sights. He climbed high up a nearby tree and fired from there. Plop, went the second cub as it fell down, and then the last. Everybody agreed Dominic was the hero of the day. According to Mrs. Pelly, Dominic’s nose was “still going a mile a minute” and for his reward he was allowed to take a closeup sniff of the bears after they had all been caged in the mobile live trap. At that point he was reluctant to get too close, apparently somewhat overwhelmed at the realization of just what he had done. After all, Dominic was used to treeing raccoons and hadn't taken on anything this size before. Pemble drove off with the bears, heading back to Abbotsford where he would check that they had suffered no ‘ill effects before taking them into the bush to turn them loose. Vancouver 2 PIECE SECTIONAL - 4colours in stock Reg. $1200. INOW 899°> GEORGIA INTERIORS “EVERYTHING FOR THE LIVINGROOM” 669-0045 1128 W. Georgia St. mR WONG'S WOK, GOURMET CANTONESE CUISINE OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK LUNCHES - GOURMET DINNERS - TAKE OUT - DELIVERIES SPECIAL DIM SUM LUNCHES SAT., SUN., & HOLIDAYS WEST VANCOUVER RICHMOND 1579 BELLEVUE AVE. 926-7371 270-7571 6061 NO. 3 RD. “BEAR CATCHER EXTRAORDINAIRE, Dominic - _ nose still working overtime. Lions Bay author PAGE CT Deciding on tours PAGE C5 Church Directory Entertainment Hayden Stewart What'e Gotng On i wae e mee “e oo hte Jenny en sty 0 bsymagn Mapor cyee eplantresa tal tance danny OY ene ER TN A ate Ser pe ae iene? eer ge? EN, eo pete Llane telco nisi aks si kn et a A eit tatoo PET OP ee errr