Conservation Officers weren’t horsing around when they wrangled four horses heading north on the Cariboo Highway recently.
It happened recently on Highway 97 between Clinton and 70 Mile House, after COs were checking ice fishers in the southern Cariboo.
CO Joel Kline says an “unusual” call came in on the police scanner about four horses escaping from their corral and wandering up the highway.
He says he spotted the horses further up the highway, just north of Chasm Road. A photo shows the horses trotting single file on the highway’s shoulder with the flow of traffic.
“We turned on the red and blues and slowly followed them, signaling to traffic to slow down. And occasionally we had to herd one of the horses back to single file,” Kline says.
“The horses had travelled over three kilometers up the highway by that point.”
He says the RCMP officer from Clinton arrived with the horses’ owners, and says the five vehicles involved were able to turn the horses around and go southbound.
“We eventually reached Chasm Rd turnoff and somehow convinced the horses to turn into the side road without incident,” Kline says.
The horses were eventually wrangled back into their corral with some encouragement and the enticement of oats.
“I never know what each day on the job with the COS will bring, but this was a particularly exciting afternoon,” Kline said. “Only in the Cariboo.”