Fed up with people using the wilderness as a dumping ground, a Sooke resident became an amateur investigator, tracking down the man who left his demolished Ford Thunderbird in the Bear Creek reservoir area near Jordan River.
The resident, who identified himself as “Ed,” then posted a cheekily written rant on UsedVictoria.com, titled “Dude … we found your car.”
Since the owner of the vehicle left registration papers and a resumé with his name and address in the car, Ed had solid information to pass on to the Sooke RCMP, which is investigating.
“We weren’t looking for a smashed-up Thunderbird when we went for a leisurely drive to Bear Creek today, but lucky for you we found it!!” Ed wrote. “At first we were worried about how we could return it to its rightful owner, but then we found some insurance papers with your name on them.”
The message continues: “It’ll probably be super easy for them to find you too since your Facebook profile has multiple pictures of you with the car. Thanks for the added comment about ‘bringing it up to the woods to give it a redneck funeral’ … That makes it easier to identify you as the rightful owner.”
Alongside the message is a picture of the spray-painted, smashed-up Thunderbird in the woods, along with a screen grab of the owner’s Facebook page with a picture of him standing by the car before he dumped it. Ed blocked out the owner’s face and name to protect him from the wrath of the Internet.
Ed said he posted his message Saturday, just after finding the car, as a way of venting and for a few laughs. He was not prepared for it to attract thousands of views and media attention.
“There’s an unbelievable amount of garbage in the backwoods here and it’s so hard to police it,” said the 36-year-old Ed, who asked the Times Colonist not to publish his last name because he is concerned about backlash from the car’s owner.
He said a few years ago, he was part of a forest clean-up supported by West Shore Spring & 4x4 and Alpine Recycling, during which dozens of volunteers gathered two large dumpsters full of waste.
“I’ve owned ATVs and we go fishing and camping in this area. You would not believe where you’ll find garbage,” Ed said.
Sooke RCMP said an officer contacted the car’s owner and warned him that he has a few days to arrange for a tow truck to get the car before he faces mischief charges or fines for illegal dumping.
Ed just hopes his message will make people think twice about using the woods as a wastebasket.
