How organised gangs are hunting our dogs with valuable breeds being stolen at knifepoint
The crooks targeting people's pets have been known to mark homes with coloured chalk crosses to signal them out as good targets
RUTH KIRBY started to panic when she noticed the youngest of her two pups had gone missing.
She had left the 18-month-old English bulldog called Holtz playing happily in the garden just moments earlier.
The pawnbroker recalled: “I couldn’t believe it. The wall was more than 6ft high — the only way for her to have disappeared is for someone to have climbed over to steal her.”
There was no CCTV around her home in Tottenham, North London, at the time of the incident in June 2011 and police could do little to help.
Ruth, 34, added: “I was so worried that she’d be used as a breeding dog.”
Bulldog puppies sell for up to £2,500 each and, heartbreakingly, Ruth’s fears were proved right.
She was reunited with Holtz SEVEN years later, when the puppy farmers, who stole her and used her as a breeding bitch, dumped the now- skinny animal by the road.
Holtz was taken to a vets in Norfolk — 140 miles from where she went missing — where they scanned her microchip and called Ruth.
She said: “I was dumbstruck. When I first saw her, Holtz looked puzzled then began wagging her tail.
“She was skin and bone. The vets believe she had pups recently and she had mastitis as she’d been used to breed so many times. She looked so thin and helpless.
“She was used to make money and dumped when she was no use any more. How people could do such a thing beggars belief.”
The UK puppy trade is worth up to £300million and “designer breeds” can fetch thousands online.
A staggering 60 dogs are stolen in the England and Wales every week, some of which spend the rest of their days churning out litters in miserable puppy farms. In truly horrific cases, they are used as bait in dog fights.
Sadly, only one in five dogs is reunited with its owner, meaning Holtz was very lucky indeed.
The problem is so prolific that it has sparked a boom in agencies set up to help find missing animals.
Tom Watkins, who runs Britain’s largest “pet detective agency”, Animal Search UK, has seen the number of dog thefts rise rapidly.
He told The Sun: “The cases of dognapping are probably far higher than imagined.
“Gangs are becoming increasingly slick and organised. We’ve had dogs reported stolen from homes, cars and outside shops, even on walks.
“Thieves now lie in wait for dogs to wander past, then they use meat to lure them into bushes.
“Some are brazen enough to ‘clip and run’, where the thief attaches a lead and legs it.
“There are random hits and contracted, where the criminals will hunt down a rare breed for a big payday.”
Gangs have been known to mark homes with coloured chalk crosses to signal them out as “good targets”. Pink is for small dogs, yellow for medium and red for larger breeds.
And it is no wonder that thieves are so brash when the criminal law regards dogs as property, in the same way as a TV or mobile phone, meaning dognappers will typically walk free from court if caught.
But there are calls from charities and politicians to change the law.
Diane James, a Blue Cross pet bereavement officer, says: “We want the Government to change the law and recognise a dog is not a possession, it’s part of your family.”
Jane Haynes, from DogLost UK, which helps to reunite missing pets with owners, believes that animal theft should be a crime in its own right. She said: “People are not getting punished sufficiently and they think it’s a great way to make money.”
Retired hairdresser Rita Potter, 73, helped to set up the Stolen And Missing Pet Alliance, after her beloved labrador Daisy, five, was taken last November. The group’s petition, calling for police to receive more training in animal theft, received more than 100,000 signatures.
Parliament discussed the review in July, but rejected a change in the law.
She said: “My MP, George Freeman, spoke about Daisy’s dognapping in the House of Commons and highlighted that only five per cent of dog thefts result in convictions.”
Rita said: “People who steal pets need harsher punishment.
“These animals are living beings and having a pet stolen causes great emotional distress — I know, the house is empty without our dog.” Daisy was stolen from the garden of the home Rita shares with her husband Philip, 82, in Attleborough, Norfolk.
She recalled: “When I came home that day, I thought it was odd that Daisy wasn’t on the drive.
“The next day a witness contacted me and said he’d seen a man run up our drive, pick up Daisy and throw her in the back of his pick-up truck.
“Our posters were all over the area by then, and the story had been posted on social media.”
The couple have still not been reunited with Daisy.
Labradors are the sixth most-likely dog breed to be stolen, with 27 taken last year, while Staffordshire bull terriers are most at risk.
But thefts of French bulldogs are surging, with 61 stolen last year.
Just last month, two robbers targeted a newborn litter of French Bulldogs, forcing their way into a pregnant woman’s home and putting a knife to her stomach.
Leeanne Corbett, 26, from Stretford, Manchester, was terrified as the hooded men made off with an incubator containing eight one-day-old pups.
The tiny dogs were handed into a vet just days later, but only two survived. They have since been reunited with their mother, Reign.
Leeanne said: “I am just glad for Reign. At least she has two back.”
While these dramatic crimes are becoming more common, 52 per cent of dogs are simply stolen from gardens and five per cent from vehicles.
Devastated Iain Edwards, 48, had his beloved two-year-old cocker spaniel Ellie stolen from his van just two weeks ago.
The landscape gardener, from Northampton, said: “It was a typical working day. I was at a house on a new estate and the owner wanted the garden sorting out.
“Ellie had spent the day in the garden with me. The site was busy and it was fully of builders and noisy.
“I put Ellie in the passenger seat of the van as I was loading up to go home, but when I came back I noticed the side door was open.
DOG THEFT FACTS
- UK puppy trade is worth £300million.
- 60 dogs are stolen every week.
- Only one in five dogs are returned to owners.
- 52 per cent of dogs are stolen from gardens.
- 16 per cent of dogs are nabbed on walks.
- 5 per cent of dogs are removed from cars or vans.
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“I put my head in and thought, ‘Where’s Ellie?’ Then I noticed my wallet had been taken from the dashboard and I knew then that my gorgeous dog had been stolen.”
The police arrived within minutes, but Iain was so upset he was unable to speak. He recalled: “An officer had to cancel my bank cards for me. The police said that people are now driving around building sites looking for unattended dogs in vans to steal. It’s shocking to think that this kind of dognapping is happening.”
Ellie’s picture has gone out to 7,000 vets, she is chipped and Northamptonshire Police are still investigating.
Iain added: “My hope is that someone will drop Ellie off at a vets. She is my life. Pease bring her back.”
- Additional reporting: Rachel Spencer and Monica Cafferky