CANADA Canada - Darius Macdougall, 5, Crowsnest Pass, Alberta,Canada 21 Sept 2025

[100summers]

the presence of apex predators makes my anxiety go through the roof , I know bears don't live in all parts of Canada and am hoping none are present in this part of the forest

@nao was pretty spot on with their info. I never encountered any wolves in the area when I lived there (they're definitely present in the area around town but in all my hikes I never encountered any, and I've never heard anyone from there talk about the wolves encroaching into town) but coyotes, black and grizzly bears, and mountain lions are very common there. I do think all the noise and activity from the searchers would heavily deter predators away from the area, though.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

“Day seven: RCMP ‘refocus’ search as survivability put below five per cent

Nicholas L. M. Allen
Sep 28, 2025

About 200 personnel recheck land and water as air crews move from infrared to cameras; RCMP say search is not scaling back and no foul play suspected.

Alberta RCMP and Search and Rescue Alberta said Sunday the search for six year old Darius Macdougall is not being scaled back, but tactics are being refocused as the operation enters its seventh day.

Cpl. Gina Slaney said RCMP, Search and Rescue and victim family liaison officers met the family Sunday morning to discuss survivability.

[SBM]

Surface and underwater assets are present to revisit areas previously searched.

[SBM]

[Adam Kennedy, provincial training manager with Search and Rescue Alberta] said no cadaver dogs have been brought in to his knowledge.

[SBM]

RCMP reiterated there is no evidence of foul play and that the case remains a missing child investigation.

[SBM]

RCMP confirmed the family was camped south of Highway 3 in the Livingstone Public Land Use Zone, down Tent Mountain Road, not at Island Lake campground. Slaney said the search continues and resource deployment will be evaluated as operations proceed.“

Much more at the link:

News | Pass Herald

Crowsnest Pass Herald stories - Stories from around the Crowsnest Pass and area.

www.passherald.ca

 

[MistyWaters]

‘Spoke about survivability’: Alberta RCMP, SAR meet with family as search for missing boy continues

RCMP officers and Alberta search and rescue officials met with the family of Darius Macdougall Sunday to discuss “survivability concerns” as the search for the missing boy continues.

www.ctvnews.ca

Slaney said that search tactics have changed, but not been reduced.

Kennedy said some air search tactics have changed.

“It will change the use of some of the infrared technologies on the assumption that the infrared technologies won’t be picking up any heat signatures on the ground,” Kennedy said. “That’s the biggest change right now is changing from using the infrared to solely cameras to search the ground.”

 

[MistyWaters]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/one-week-search-alberta-missing-child-1.7645762

Search-and-rescue expert Robert Koester, who wrote Lost Person Behavior: A Search and Rescue Guide on Where to Look - for Land, Air and Water, told CBC News searching for children with autism is more common than one might think, in his experience working in Virginia.

"The major challenge with autism is in some cases they're non-responsive, so if you shout their name they can't call back," he said. "In other cases, you shout their name and they don't want to call back because they may be afraid."…….

…..He said additional challenges may include "actively hiding from searchers" and that missing people with autism tend to be found in structures.

"If you're truly out in the woods, where there are no structures around, they sometimes have a tendency to crawl into the thickest ... tightest, densest vegetation possible," he said.

 

[wvmoonangel]

As of 2 hours ago they are saying he has less than 5% chance of survival.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/one-week-search-alberta-missing-child-1.7645762

 

[nao]

Moo..and he has been out there in the nites. It would seem natural to find a crevice, hollow tree stump, somewhere to secret himself away. Also possible he might get stuck somewhere small...
Moo

 

[MistyWaters]

Moo..and he has been out there in the nites. It would seem natural to find a crevice, hollow tree stump, somewhere to secret himself away. Also possible he might get stuck somewhere small...
Moo

Yes it’s truly heartbreaking, they tried so hard. Searchers are looking eye level 4 and more feet above ground and if he crawled into a small opening somewhere he’s probably less than 1 foot above, if that.
JMO

 

[Andreee]

So sad! I hadn't looked at a map of the public campground area the group was in until now. As a Canadian, I know that Crowsnest Pass is heavily forested, but looking at a map it is moreso than I thought for people to camp in! I also thought with the intense search efforts with modern tech & and the like, that there was no way this time this little boy could not be found by searchers. Having seen the level of density of the area though, I think he could still be missed somehow. And the theory that he was abducted seems miniscule IMO JMO.