Conservation Officer Al Comfort
Ontario Department of Lands and Forests
Ontario
End of Watch: Sunday, January 1, 1967

Biographical Info
Age: 0
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Exposure
Date of Incident: Not available
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available

The exact date of Officer Comfort's death is unknown.

Al Comfort suffered a miserably cold and lonely death on the shore of Shipsands Island, a bird sanctuary at the mouth of the Moose River. Aged in his mid-20s, Comfort had made for the island to collect crippled geese, an annual task undertaken by C.O.s to relieve the suffering of birds wounded by hunters.

There, he beached his canoe, but a fast-moving tide swept in and carried the craft out to sea. Comfort made a desperate bid to get it back. Once his race against the tide had failed, Comfort returned to the shoreline to sit beside the willows along the bank where - cold, wet and without footwear - he died of hypothermia.

An extensive land and air search soon located his canoe in the Moose River, but it was another two weeks before his frozen body, covered in seaweed, was discovered. Just after freeze-up, a nearby resident gathering driftwood along the shore noticed a gun barrel sticking out of the ice.

On closer inspection, he found the gun cradled by Comfort's body, which was huddled in the fetal position.