Local Social media full of attempted dog theft gossip?

[lljkk]

Mine is... But incredibly vague and there's usually no actual snatching attempt or the details given are so brief that I am not sure of true picture. I can't tell what is paranoia & what is legit concern. Is this happening on your local social media pages? Examples (entirety of details given):

"Beware of dog thieves! A strange couple approached my dog excitedly but then lost interest and walked away because my dog is too old"

or

"Beware dog theft attempt! Eastern European woman in blue car followed dog owners on popular local walking route, now dog owner is very distressed."

or

"Man tried to snatch my dog but dropped dog who bit them, thank goodness" (*)

(*) I'm wondering what owner actually saw, like maybe dog ran up & bit man & man was wrestling dog off is all owner actually saw.

one on our FB local site

“Beware, old white van driving around the area with DOGS written on the side. I think they are looking to snatch dogs”

The majority of comments were “report to Police”, and “that’s terrible, must have been so distressing for you”

I thought would any self respecting dog thief advertise that he/she had dogs in the van and all this person was “guilty” of was being in possession of a dodgy old white van - is that a crime now?!?!

I agree. And it’s funny how they know they are all ‘Eastern European’

We had one where someone detailed the exact movements of a van, including a dodgy looking woman driver who kept getting out, wandering around, covering her face etc.

Turns out it was a delivery driver who had just hit a customers wall and was quite upset about it and had pulled over to calm herself down. Poor woman had to explain herself on social media.

Yeah... we’ve had a couple of actual tried to grab a dog kind of attempted thefts, but the police were involved and what have you so proper details and one break in to a shed and stole 2 breeding bitches nearby

And about 500 someone looked at me funny or drove suspiciously

I don't use Facebook. Its full of ranters who havnt got the sense to report the incidents to the police or council.

Yes! I posted about this on another thread recently but it’s doing my head in. Multiple ‘beware, attempted dog theft!’ posts every day, but when you open them the ‘attempted theft’ turns out to be ‘a suspicious looking man was looking at my dog and walking towards us’ or ‘a couple were hanging around on a bench looking at all the dogs’ or ‘a car slowed down and turned around in front of us’. Always followed by dozens of ‘what is the world coming to, who do these scumbags think they are??’ comments.

It’s still fucking lockdown, going for walks is all most people are able to do for fun, but apparently a lone man walking in the vicinity of dog walkers must be up to no good.

A lot of it is unashamedly racist too. Most of the suspected dog thieves are ‘Eastern European looking’ and one of the silliest ones I saw had a ‘suspicious looking Asian man talking on his phone’ who, as far as I could tell from the post, had done absolutely nothing suspicious apart from be Asian.

Has anyone else had the hysteria about plastic cable ties on fences? There are lots of these near our local park and apparently these are messages to dog thieves that lots of dogs are being walked in that area. Couldn’t possibly be from signage previously attached to the fence that’s since been removed, could it? And why dog thieves would communicate through cable ties instead of just texting each other is a mystery to me.

Occasionally someone on my groups will try to call out the hysteria and will get shot down with lots of ‘well it’s better to be safe than sorry’ and ‘you obviously don’t have a dog or you’d be scared too’.

I thought this was an urban myth. People seem to believe it though. And don't try arguing with anyone about it or you will really end up on the end of some abuse!

“And why dog thieves would communicate through cable ties instead of just texting each other is a mystery to me.”

Yeah... the rest of the world is using Snapchat maps but dog thieves use cable ties, chalk and post its instead...

Yep, I'm definitely thinking urban myths. Round here it's usually a man with an Irish accent in an old van.

Yep, had it here a few weeks ago.
Our local 'neighbourhood watch representative' was literally going door to door on our street, telling people that he'd had confirmation from the police that dog nappers had been casing our street.
As ever there were racist undertones from him, so for once I thought 'f**k this' and contacted the local police myself.
Guess what? He was lying. He scared so many local residents, including my 19 yr old dd who is at home with the dog on her own most days.

He is someone who obsessively shares this sort of scaremongering shit on social media and I'm so fed up of it. Life is difficult enough at the moment for people!!

There is some evidence that theft of dogs has increased - no doubt largely due to people being willing to mortgage their home to pay for a puppy! - but these sorts of "reports have gone on for hundreds of years in one form or another, from Jews stealing children to Eastern Europeans stealing dogs. They are a familiar narrative of "the other" - a group of "outsiders" who "threaten" our safety and security. In evolutionary terms its a way that the human pack builds its cohesive bonds against those who aren't part of the pack. In modern terms, we ought to have the emotional intelligence to move past it, but many haven't. Social media, with its unfettered drivel, simply feeds an instinct that speaks to the primal in us.

these sorts of "reports have gone on for hundreds of years in one form or another, from Jews stealing children to Eastern Europeans stealing dogs. They are a familiar narrative of "the other" - a group of "outsiders" who "threaten" our safety and security.

That’s such a good way of putting it and so true!

A local church around here found some cable ties on the fence around their church yard so they put up a social media post saying ‘we have heard these might be messages to dog thieves, stay safe everyone’. Then a local newspaper stupidly picked up on it and put out an article with the headline ‘dog walkers warned to stay vigilant after coded messages to dog thieves found in local church yard’. Now everyone on social media is going nuts sharing this article which basically confirms all their fears, even though the only source in the article is a single social media post saying ‘we’ve heard that...’

It’s maddening but there’s nothing you can say to these people and it’s all self-perpetuating. The more people post about their ‘close calls’ and ‘narrow escapes’ from suspected dog thieves, the more anxious everyone gets and the more they themselves end up posting about similar things. I guess that’s classic mass hysteria!

Yep, all over social media, yet according to the police, there's only been one reported instance of theft in the area since November.

I ignore it unless it comes from an official source. Anyone can write anything on Facebook.

“A local church around here found some cable ties on the fence around their church yard so they put up a social media post saying ‘we have heard these might be messages to dog thieves, stay safe everyone’. “

But... I mean... do they keep dogs in the church?...

They just raided a traveller site in Ipswich and found 83 stolen dogs, which kind of proves that it’s happening

There have been lots in our area too I was a bit sceptical and then this happened at the weekend

We've had 3 confirmed by police in our area since February.

We live in a small town, relatively quiet area so it's definitely happening!

@ArcherDog

I agree. And it’s funny how they know they are all ‘Eastern European’

We had one where someone detailed the exact movements of a van, including a dodgy looking woman driver who kept getting out, wandering around, covering her face etc.

Turns out it was a delivery driver who had just hit a customers wall and was quite upset about it and had pulled over to calm herself down. Poor woman had to explain herself on social media.

That is interesting. All the dog thieves are Asian round here. Different bits of the country, different prejudices, innit.

Hilarious that people think dog snatchers would drive a van with 'Dogs' written on the side. It's like house breakers driving round in a van labelled BURGLED GOODS.

@StormBaby

They just raided a traveller site in Ipswich and found 83 stolen dogs, which kind of proves that it’s happening

Thanks for making the point that it was travellers, @StormBaby. Instead of, y'know, normal people.

For balance, I used to live somewhere with fixed traveller site at the end of the road. They were all lovely and didn't steal our pets.

Yes. I've just seen a post with the registration number of a white van, that's going round stealing dogs.

Yes it's rather annoying, but I can see why people want to warn others. I don't share as it's hear say and not guaranteed legit.

@StormBaby

They just raided a traveller site in Ipswich and found 83 stolen dogs, which kind of proves that it’s happening

What a coincidence, I'm nowhere near you and the exact same thing has been reported near me. What are the chances eh?

@EvilOnion

We've had 3 confirmed by police in our area since February.

We live in a small town, relatively quiet area so it's definitely happening!

Oh there have definitely been attempted and actual thefts and yep, small town, so not normal.

But if it was the amount of attempts people on Facebook groups were posting about there’d be no dogs left, lol.

I'm sure the BBC and the police are being creative with their reporting

@StormBaby

They just raided a traveller site in Ipswich and found 83 stolen dogs, which kind of proves that it’s happening

Nobody is saying it's not happening.

But a social media post by Joe Bloggs is proof of nothing.