INUVIK - A rescue effort was delayed by nearly two hours last month after three snowmobiles were stolen from an Environment and Natural Resources storage unit.

On Nov. 16, two adults and two youths left Tuktoyaktuk at 2 p.m. on three snowmobiles headed for Inuvik - typically a four-hour trip. When they failed to arrive by 10:30 p.m., Ian Elsworth, a senior wildlife officer with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Inuvik, received a call to start a search and rescue. ENR officers are first responders during search and rescue efforts.

Ian Elsworth, senior wildlife officer, shows an empty Environment and Natural Resources storage unit from which two snowmobiles were stolen last month, delaying a rescue effort by two hours. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photo

But when Elsworth arrived at the ENR storage site located on River Road, the lock on the security gate was gone as well as a snowmobile that was parked beside the storage shed. The wooden door on the side of the structure containing the other two snowmobiles was smashed in half and the garage door, which was locked, had been pried open.

"Now we're scrambling because we don't have Ski-Doos," said Elsworth. "We were thinking the worst because there's a lot of overflow on the river at that time. We thought they went through the ice. People's lives are at stake."

The neighbouring garage was also broken into but he said nothing noticeable was stolen besides a drive belt from his own Ski-Doo that he was repairing.

Officers finally rounded up enough snowmobiles for the search after midnight. But by that time, the missing party had arrived home safely.

Still, Elsworth remains angry over the theft, especially since it could have resulted in tragedy. One of the snowmobiles was found abandoned in Boot Lake Park three days after the break-in. Its skis and drive belt were taken and the windshield was damaged.

After being tipped to their whereabouts by a couple of kids, Elsworth found the other two machines in the bush not far from a trail that crosses the bypass on Wolverine Road. They were also missing skis and drive belts.

Police have no suspects in the case.

This isn't the first time ENR has been the target of theft and vandalism. Most recently in the spring of 2008 its garage unit was broken into by eight- and 12-year-old boys. They broke into the building by ramming the back end of a snowmobile through the garage door. Once inside, they caused significant damage and spray-painted the walls. They stole two snowmobiles and used an angle grinder from the garage and ran an extension cord from the structure about 60 feet away to cut the lock on the security gate.

Elsworth estimated the damage cost between $10,000 and $15,000 to repair.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has already lost two snowmobiles this year. They were recovered by Environment and Natural Resources officers, but were damaged beyond repair.

The ENR office is in the process of buying alarm systems for its storage and garage unit. Elsworth said money will have to be taken from one its current programs to repair the damage to the snowmobiles, which he said amounts to about $5,000.

"That's four or five thousand that we could have put to patrols," he said. "Caribou are in drastic decline and the public wants increased patrols. Yet when things like this happen, there's no magical pot of money that covers it."