LANGFORD, B.C. — During her tenure at the regional parks department, Devon Jones has had zero encounters with mythical creatures. “Never any Bigfoots or Yetis yet,” Devon says, smiling. But she did spot something unexpected in her office’s lost and found box. “A caticorn!” Devon says, before elaborating. “A cat-unicorn, of course!” And besides a pair boots, a bunch of cellphones, and all sorts of keys, the rainbow-coloured stuffed-animal cat with a floppy unicorn horn on its head was all alone. “It tugs at the heart strings a little, you know,” Devon says. Because Devon could tell from the caticorn’s well-loved fur—and handmade necklace—this stuffy was not supposed to be solo. “They belong to somebody,” Devon says while cradling the caticorn. “I’m sure they’re very important to this person.” Although she doesn’t know who that person is yet, Devon does know they were somehow separated from their stuffy, somewhere along a trail leading to a Vancouver Island beach named Sanduct, sometime during the end of summer. “So, I kind of took it upon myself to get this thing reunited with its person,” says Devon, who crafted a lost caticorn poster to share on social media. “The caticorn was sitting next to me, helping me write the post,” Devon says before showing where the stuffed animal sat on her desk. Then, Devon helped distract the caticorn from worrying by letting it try working around the regional parks department HQ. “Caticorn tried out the lawn mower. Caticorn’s been in the mechanic’s shop. Caticorn tried out some of the fleet vehicles,” says Devon, who took photos of the stuffed animal doing all these things along with attending meetings, tidying toolboxes, and disposing of invasive plants. “So, it’s been a busy couple of days here.” But if you ask Devon why she’s been so busy caring for somebody else’s caticorn, she’ll tell you about the bear she’d had since she was born, named G.W. “His intitals stand for ‘Get Well,’” Devon says with a smile, before sharing a photo of the teddy wearing a striped sweater. “Anytime I was feeling not great or maybe I was feeling nervous or something, he was ‘Get Well Teddy.’” And seeing as the caticorn’s owner may be feeling uneasy about starting a new school year, Devon is determined to keep working until both the stuffy and their person “get well” and are reunited. Because although mythical creatures like Sasquatch are elusive around here, this caticorn has discovered kindness is abundant. “I think (this) is really part of what being a public servant is,” Devon says. “It’s taking those little extra steps where you can, to try and bring a little joy back to people.”
