Puppy mafia: Dognappers exploit demand for pandemic pets in U.K.

[Fla Dem]

Last edited Sun Apr 4, 2021, 03:13 PM - Edit history (1)

By
William Booth
April 2, 2021 at 7:49 a.m. EDT


LONDON — Tilly was snatched from her bed. Moet was nabbed from her home. Angel plucked from her garden.
A former boxer fought off a knife-wielding thief who tried to boost Rosie the collie. A maltipoo named Nala was disappeared, as if in a TV thriller, along with her dog walker’s van. A pair of guileless labs, named Denzel and Welly, were led away from an upscale market. The surveillance camera footage made the evening news. So did their rescue this past week.

Britain is in the throes of a huge dognapping crime wave. This is extremely distressing in this nation of animal lovers, another emotional lashing in a strange and terrible time. The humane societies and rescue charities in Britain say they have never seen anything like it. Animal welfare investigators — pet detectives, really — blame the pandemic. The demand for dogs is massive, but there are few for sale or adoption. So crime bosses are now puppy brokers.

In the United States, the most famous recent case involved Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs, Koji and Gustav, stolen from her dog walker, Ryan Fischer, who was shot during the dog robbery in West Hollywood. Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs are returned, two days after walker is ambushed

In Britain, the problem has risen to the level of senior government officials. Home Secretary Priti Patel called the reported rise in pet theft “absolutely shocking.” Police Minister Kit Malthouse vowed action, saying, “It’s a sad fact that criminals will seek to profit by this vile crime.” Parliament is debating tougher laws after being handed not one but two petitions, with hundreds of thousands of signatures, urging authorities to make dog theft a serious offense, punishable by eight years in prison and $7,500 in fines.

English law treats dogs as property, with punishment commensurate with the value of the object. In practice, that makes a dog’s value equal to a stolen microwave, TV set or mobile phone — a few hundred dollars or less. Petitioners want this to change — to make the offense more akin to the kidnapping of a member of the family.

Snip

“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been in the field for 35 years,” said Wayne May, police liaison with Dog Lost, Britain’s largest lost-and-found dog service. May said thefts reported to his organization have increased 250 percent, year-on-year. “That’s over 400 cases, just in England, just reported to us,” he said. “This isn’t a dog that’s run off. This is a reported case of theft.”

Investigators talk about the emergence of a new “puppy mafia.” They say some of the same traffickers who usually deal in prostitution, drugs and gun sales have turned to Labradoodles, unscrupulously exploiting the exploding demand.

More...................

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/dog-theft-organized-crime/2021/04/02/09d3b318-9237-11eb-aadc-af78701a30ca_story.html

This is an excellent article about the rise in dognapping here in the US as well. I'm sorry if you don't have access to the full article.

[applegrove]

1. Someone stole a dog in Buckingham just outside of Ottawa. The new

'owners' took the dog into the local pet store. The dog recognized the store dog trainer who he had been trained by as a puppy. The dog tried to get his attention. The trainer recognized him. Got suspucious. Googled the local dog forum and found the initial owners' cry for help finding their stolen dog that had just been put up. The trainer confronted the people who had the dog. They claimed they found it. The pet store trainer took control of the pup and was able to return it to its real owners. This was before COVID. Smart dog. Smart trainer.

[Fla Dem]

3. Wow!! That was some smart pup!! And thankful trainer stepped up.

[MustLoveBeagles]

2. K&R

[Karadeniz]

4. Can it get lower than this?

[Fla Dem]

5. Probably yes, unfortunately.