Wil Andruschak

What is the strangest thing that ended up in your lost and found in your 10 years of working at the airport?

I would say deer horns, a chain saw, a sewing machine, a set of tires and dentures.

Did you find the owner of the deer horns?

No, but it was a hunter who didn’t have them wrapped. He just left them in the airport.

He had shot the deer and was going to take them home to be mounted, however, he had too much luggage, did not have them wrapped, so it was too much trouble to take them on the plane.

What about the tires?

I found a set of fairly new truck tires this week in the parkade, standing up beside each other. What happens in those cases is people are chatting, putting bags in their vehicle and they get in the car and drive away without them. We had a box of wild meat left in the airport for a day. It started to thaw, so it was brought to lost and found. It was dripping blood and it was a man who had too much luggage.

What did you do with that?

We called maintenance immediately and had them dispose of it.

On average, how many items go to the lost and found?

We get 6,500 to 6,800 items per year.

What’s the most common item?

Electronics: everything from BlackBerrys, cellphones, laptops and cameras. Another item that gets lost a lot is passports. These are government documents and people lose them like it’s a chocolate bar. Right away, passports go to Canada Customs and they send them to Ottawa. The owners have to reapply for another passport.

Do you get the stuff that is stopped at security and doesn’t get on the plane?

No. We do not handle anything that is left on a flight. Each airline has its own lost and found. These are just items lost in the airport. Quite often we get suitcases full of things.

How does one lose that?

After a long flight, people can be so tired and, you know, you put down a bag to grab another bag and then your mind is getting out of the airport and getting home. So, they do walk away from their items. Of course, the police scan it and bring it to our lost and found.

Do you ever find money?

We had a gentleman recently who lost his wallet with $1,000 cash in it. I tracked him down in Sweden and mailed it to him. It was his birthday, so he was so excited.

Do you find that a challenge, to track down the owners?

Absolutely. There are days when I think I should have taken a career as a cop. I love investigations. I can uncover any dirt. It’s exciting because people are amazed that I have found them.

How do you find them?

For example, we had an antique violin turned into us recently and there was an invoice from a violin repair shop from Vancouver. So we phoned them and the fellow said, “I know exactly who that belongs to,” and within an hour the owner was phoning us. She came in the next day to pick it up.

What are police scanning it for?

Any bags lost in the airport, it’s proper procedure that bags need to be scanned.

Are they looking for bombs?

Anything of danger, yeah.

How long do you keep items?

We keep them for 45 days. We have a chapel in the airport and any items unclaimed are taken up there and he distributes them to organizations that need baby car seats or clothing. He sells cameras and cellphones and that money is put into the running of the chapel. It works out quite well.

You’ve been working there for 10 years. Over time, does more and more get lost?

We really noticed it during the height of the boom because more people were travelling. At Christmas time, there will be another boom. When passengers have their skis and their carry-ons, something is going to go missing.

What is the percentage of people who get their stuff back?

About 70 per cent.

Typically, do they find you or do you find them?

Both. Sometimes they’ll call us about such-and-such an item and within a day or two that item will show up and we contact that person.

Do you get many people who break down in tears because they are so happy that you found their item?

Absolutely, yes. What is touching is that we get a lot of toys and it’s so cool when mom and dad and their little girl come up and get her teddy bear that we put in a safe spot. The little girls cry when they get their teddy bears back. We get lots of cards, letters and gifts from people who are so overjoyed to get their stuff back.

Have you ever found a gun?

No. The most dangerous stuff that we had turned in was bear spray.

How about drugs?

Prescription drugs – lots of that and it’s easy to locate them because their names and/or pharmacists are on the bottles.

Have you ever lost anything at the airport?

Actually, that is a joke. One day I somehow put my glasses in the freezer of the fridge. This was too hilarious. I looked all day before someone found them. I keep thinking they played a trick on me, but they say, “No.”