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The thief didn't have to steal Archie – the dog was available for the asking.
The Boston terrier-pug mix, a combination affectionately known as a “bug,” was a recent arrival at the Moncton SPCA. The three-year-old had been vetted and had the proper temperament for adoption. He was in the middle of a course of antibiotics, but was a good candidate to go home with anyone willing to pay the relatively small fee, go through the paperwork and wait a day for approval.
Instead, he vanished Sunday from an outdoor kennel, the latest of at least six small dogs stolen in Moncton since December. Most of them were taken from a single pet store during a series of thefts. Archie is the first to disappear from the SPCA.
“I don't know what kind of person it takes to steal a dog,” Nanette Pearl, director of operations for the Moncton SPCA, said disgustedly on Tuesday.
It's possible the adoption fee of $175 was the sticking point, although any pet owner knows that the cost of caring for a dog will quickly climb far past that point. The other theory is that dogs in Moncton are being stolen for resale.
“We don't feel that there's a big dog ring, dog-napping ring going on,” RCMP Corporal Mike Gaudet said. “Right now we feel that they're isolated incidents. A crime of opportunity, basically, a few quick dollars for someone desperate.”
Some of the types of breeds stolen command high prices on the legitimate market – other thefts have included Pomeranians and a Japanese Chin – but it's difficult to know what their value would be on the black market.
“They're all $800 to $900 dogs,” said Annette Comfort, co-owner of Brenda's Bowtique, which has been hit four times. “But they're small dogs, they're easy to shove under your coat and go.”
Her shop opened in December, designed with a more open environment than some traditional pet stores. But now, painfully aware that has made them vulnerable, staff are locking cages and reconsidering the need for video surveillance.
Only a couple of their dogs have been recovered. One was abandoned in a snowbank shortly after being taken. A Jack Russell terrier was recovered when a man carrying it under his coat tried to sell it for $100 to a person at a bank machine. But others, included two Pomeranian puppies stolen last week, have not turned up.
Concern among staff has been mounting.
“For us this is heartbreaking when you don't know how they're being treated,” Ms. Comfort said. “It's not a piece of jewellery [being stolen], it's like a child.”
“Pomeranians are very delicate,” she added. “They get stressed and stop eating, they lose the little bit of body fat they have and can go into a coma.”
Rumours abound that the various dog thefts are being committed by junkies in search of a few dollars. But Cpl. Gaudet called that a “purely speculative” theory and said money-for-drugs was just one motive being considered by investigators.
“There's no dogs-for-drugs kind of corner store … where you can walk in with a dog and trade him for an ounce of grass or whatever,” he pointed out. “Are we looking at that angle? Obviously, we look at all of them.”
