Recently in pet theft Category
Here's a story out of Texas about a family who lost not only all their Christmas gifts, but also their dog, Candy, a 2-year-old teacup Yorkshire terrier who was taken by a burglar.
Most of the stolen gifts belonged to 13-year-old Cameron Rusaw. But Cameron, who was too upset to go to school Monday, said he misses his dog more than anything.
"I'm not worried about any gifts," he said. "I just want my dog back."
The last two dogs of the four show dogs stolen earlier this week have been recovered. Tracy Manzer of the Press-Telegram, our sister paper, posted a story later this afternoon, reporting that the dogs got a little extra attention at the show because of all they'd been through.
The original Press-Telegram story from earlier in the week drew widespread attention, reaching readers as far away as Australia and Sweden. The story also was picked up on television newscasts, which no doubt led to the quick resolution.
*** (12/1/090: The puppy, we're told, has been found and returned to his owner.
From our colleague Larry Altman over at the Crimes and Courts blog:
An Inglewood woman is pleading for someone to help her find her dog, which she reported stolen Sunday from her car in a shopping center parking lot.
The dog was in her car parked outside the Superior market at Crenshaw Boulevard and Imperial Highway. Someone broke into it, she said.
Her dog is a Maltese named "Prince."
"My entire family is heartbroken over this," Sanford said in an e-mail sent to the media. "My daughter can't stop crying and she can't sleep at night. We love our dog and we won't stop until we get him back."
The dog is a white male (not neutered) Maltese, about 7 pounds.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Inglewood Police Department at 310-412-5210.
Be sure to also check out our earlier post today on a lost cat named Flashdance in the Torrance area.
Here's that surveillance video that seems to confirm that Bubba the puppy was the victim of a dognapping.
MISSING PUPPY
BROWN BULL MASTIF NAMED BUBBA
LAST SEEN IN FRONT OF HIS HOUSE
1123 S. PATTON SAN PEDRO, CA 90731
ON THE AFTERNOON OF OCT. 3RD
WEIGHS 20-25 LBS AND HAS A RED COLLAR WITH TAGS
NEEDS MEDICATION
REWARD BEING OFFERED
NO QUESTIONS ASKED,
PLEASE CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION(310) 308-5666 OR (310) 892-2223
You may remember Josh's post earlier this month about the dognapping of Kimbo -- and the happy ending when he was found and returned to his San Pedro home.
I saw Kimbo last week at the dog park. The happy, romping 116-pound, 2-year-old Rottweiller appears to have survived his ordeal in good shape. He's no doubt very happy to be back home again.
But not all stolen dog stories end so well. And dog theft these days is not all that unusual, according to
an article at PetPlace.com: .
Dog theft is a crime that is hard to measure in statistics. Some have put the number of total pet thefts at 2 million a year. ... However, it is often hard to discern whether a pet was stolen or simply wandered off and got lost.
Linda Fields, a journalist who founded FindFido.com, a nonprofit pet locater service, estimates that about 10 percent of the 1,460 dogs listed on her site were stolen.
According to National Pet Recovery, a private pet recovery company, about 41 percent of the cases reported to them involved a stolen dog. About 47 percent of lost dogs were those allowed to run loose.
See the jump for the reasons dogs are stolen -- and tips on what you can do to keep your pet safe.
Our thanks again to PetPlace for the heads-up and useful resources.
About the Bloggers
Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.
E-mail Donna at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.
Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.
E-mail Josh at josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com.