Police in Squamish say they received a call on Wednesday afternoon of a man at the Brackendale Fairground trail asking youth in the area to help him find his dog.

Squamish RCMP Staff Sargent Jolaine Percival says the youth immediately ran away and told his parents, who then notified police.

Police searched the area for the man and a vehicle, but were unsuccessful in finding anything. Percival says that the story was posted on social media sites and gained “momentum and spread further throughout the community”. She says there was significant concern posed by residents about the possible alleged luring.

Later that evening a Squamish resident called RCMP to advise that he had read some of the online posts, and identified himself as the man. Percival says “he stated that he was walking his dog in the Brackendale Fairground area and that his dog had run away”. The man was trying to catch his dog as it was running around and wouldn’t return.

The male resident confirmed that he asked two individual youths to help him, one stayed to help the other ran away. He believed it was probably himself that caused the commotion. After seeing the post online the man wanted to set aside any concerns from the community that there was an unknown person trying to lure children.

Police say the man provided his identity and have confirmed that he has no negative police contact. Percival says the descriptions they received matched and “it was actually him”. The file has been closed.

Filed under: District of Squamish, Police, RCMP, Sea to Sky, Squamish