By Ashley Legassic

Search is on for Merritt cowboy likely missing since weekend

Jan 29, 2019 | 2:13 PM

MERRITT, B.C. — Police and search and rescue groups are scouring areas near Merritt after a cowboy was reported missing.

Merritt RCMP say the search is on its second day. Police were advised of a horse with no rider and full gear around 12:30 p.m. on Monday (Jan. 28).

Local loggers had located the horse earlier in the day and told local ranchers, who retrieved the horse and were able to identify its owner.

A 32-year-old man who works for a local ranch was identified as the missing rider, and had been on his days off when he went missing.

The man had last been seen Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., but it’s unknown when he rode into the back country.

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“He’s a rancher so we believe he was dressed for the weather, probably had proper gear but there’s no indication that he took anything to spend the night,” Merritt RCMP Const. Tracy Dunsmore tells CFJC Today. “Usually they have a lighter or something on them, he’s not a smoker but in our investigation we determined that he would probably at least carry a lighter or something to make a fire. We haven’t been able to locate anything like that so far.”

Nicola Valley Search and Rescue along with Kamloops SAR are coordinating the search efforts, while teams from the Shuswap, Penticton, Princeton, Logan Lake, Central Okanagan, Chilliwack and Surrey have been called in to help.

Nearly 40 SAR members were onsite Monday evening with Police Dog Services, snowmobiles and RCMP Air support. Air searches by SAR, PEP Air and Drones were also conducted overnight.

Several ranchers on horseback, Aspen Planers Staff, members of the Lower Nicola Indian Band and four trained search dogs are also searching.

Merritt RCMP say due to active logging and wild horses in the area, finding tracks of the rider has been hindered. It’s also not known where the missing man’s destination was.

“At this point because we don’t know where his destination was, (searchers) believe he might have gone out looking for some stray cattle that might have been in the area, and he didn’t tell anybody where he was going or when he left,” Dunsmore says. “So it’s quite a large area, there are herds of wild horses in the area as well as cattle and deer and moose, so trying to find the horse tracks is — it’s a bit troublesome.”

The public is being asked to refrain from lone searching but to contact Merritt RCMP if they saw a man riding in the Swakum Ridge area over the weekend.