Description

When Dennis Pemble was a kid, he never dreamed of becoming a wildlife control officer. After struggling in school because of a learning disability and being bullied by classmates, Pemble finally found his footing after discovering his aptitude for trapping coyotes and training hound dogs. That short-term job set Pemble on a career path that spanned three decades, taking him on calls everywhere from the remote reaches of the Sunshine Coast to urban parks in Vancouver.

The Last Wildlife Control Officer in British Columbia: Thirty Years of Dealing with Problem Predators is a memoir composed of thirty-six short stories drawn from Dennis Pemble’s diaries, co-authored with his wife, Karen Pemble. Each wildlife encounter is as educational as it is entertaining, with Pemble sharing expertise on why some animals simply can’t be relocated. He tells tales of near misses, punctuated by moments of hilarity and camaraderie with fellow conservation officers, whether stories of tracking stealthy cougars on the loose (often with beloved hounds Molly, Luke, and Tango leading the charge), relocating grizzly bears, catching a coyote hiding in a gas-station store, and finding the safest way to remove an uninvited guest at the Pacific National Exhibition.