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Injured puppy gets air rescue

Bubba was only 14-weeks-old when he was struck by a car.
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Bubba recovers from his broken leg at the Alberni-Clayoquot SPCA.

An injured puppy got a dose of good luck thanks to the quick response of Tofino Air’s chief pilot Sean Porter.

Porter was en route to Tofino after dropping off two passengers at Hot Springs Cove when Tofino Air base manager Bruce Faith received a call from the SPCA regarding an injured puppy.

The hound-labrador mix was just 14 weeks old when he was struck by a car near Ahousaht on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 1, resulting in road rash and a femur that was broken in two places.

“When we heard about it, we were obviously trying to get the puppy out” of there, said Alberni-Clayoquot SPCA branch manager Irene Towell.

Faith quickly radioed Porter and the two of them decided to reroute the plane to Ahousaht in order to pick up the injured puppy, Bubba. Ahousaht, a small First Nations community on Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound, is accessible only by boat or plane, something that makes getting injured animals out of there a challenge for the SPCA.

Porter dropped off Bubba in Tofino, where an SPCA volunteer was waiting to take him into Port Alberni.

While medical evacuations aren’t unusual for Tofino Air, Faith said this one was a little out of the ordinary.

“We don’t usually do them for puppies, only for people.”

Bubba is currently recovering at the SPCA after having his leg set at a local veterinarian. Towell said that he should make a full recovery. Due to the cost of the surgery, the injured puppy was surrendered to the SPCA.

reporter@albernivalleynews.com

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— with files from Susan Quinn