CRASHINGWAVES AND ANYONE ELSE WHO LEAVES THEIR DOG OUTSIDE A SHOP TAKE A LOOK AT THIS PLEASE.
I'm not making it up, dog theft is a very rapidly growing problem - it's heartbreaking for you and can mean torture and death for your dog. I see an awful lot of appeals for help like this one come in on a weekly basis from fellow rescuers and AR supporters. In recent months the number of dogs stolen during break-ins has increased dramatically too, as well as dogs being stolen from their own gardens when left unsupervised, regardless of whether the owner is indoors at the time. Even rescues, including the RSPCA and the Dogs Trust have recently been targetted and have had dogs - mainly lurchers and terriers in their cases - stolen from their kennels overnight.
Today I'm appealling for help in finding a long haired white German Shepherd who was stolen from her own home during a break-in in Camden, London. I'd be grateful if all you dog-lovers would please put the link on you Facebook, Twitter etc and maybe we can get this girl home.
Dog theft is often an opportunist crime and to add to the list I gave last night of "uses" for a stolen dog - for the reward, to keep, to sell on, for a ransom, to breed from, as fighting dogs and as blood bait for fighting dogs - there's one I forgot, which is theft in order to use a dog for coursing or lamping. The Lurcher who has been stolen from outside a shop this week and which linked to above is almost undoubtedly one such dog and I can pretty much guarantee the sector of the community which has taken him too. When and IF such dogs are found they are often in an appalling, abused and neglected state. Do you really think these people are going to give a fuck how they treat your dog?
The best we can hope for is to make a dog "too hot to handle" with huge, huge amounts of publicity. This may bring the theif to miraculously "find" a dog in return for a reward or ransom, it may give the theif the opportunity to claim they bought the dog in innocence from a stranger in the pub and claim from the owner the (excessive) price paid for the dog and fuel for delivery of the dog back, they may be spurred to throw the dog out and if you're lucky someone like me will find him and reunite you (IF you've microchipped him or advertised his loss nationwide)... or having been thrown out he may end up under the wheels of a train or car...
... or you might just never see him again and never know what fate has befallen him.
Sorry, this is a soapbox issue for me and one which many of you ar doubtless sick of hearing me rant about but for me it's also desperately important. It's desperately important to your dog too.