Identify: Canine thefts.
Age: Way back to 1952, the British media had been reporting a “dognapping wave”, which coincided with a requirement for canine for laboratory experimentation.
Noooo! Stolen to be experimented on! Then, in 1956, Dodie Smith wrote The Hundred and One Dalmatians, that includes Cruella de Vil …
Noooo! Stolen to make a fur coat! Worse nonetheless. True. Puppies, too. Although on the plus aspect, they had been rescued – and it’s fiction.
Hopefully this wickedness has been stamped out for good? ’Fraid not. In accordance with evaluation of police knowledge by Direct Line pet insurance coverage, 1,808 canine had been stolen throughout the UK final yr.
Noooo! Stolen for … what? Cash, usually. Probably the most stolen canine, the French bulldog (51 snatched final yr, up 38% on 2023) can price £5,000 from a professional breeder, so they’re a preferred goal for criminals.
However it’s not like stealing a automobile – these poor canine are like somebody’s infants, nearly. Precisely. Adam Burgin, head of Direct Line pet insurance coverage, mentioned victims “will know the extreme stress and trauma that comes with having their beloved pet snatched away from them, usually with no closure on figuring out what occurred to a member of the household”.
As a result of they’re by no means discovered? Just one in 5 of the 23,430 canine stolen prior to now decade had been recovered. There may be some excellent news although – and a few probably stunning information, too.
Can I’ve the nice first, please? I would like it. General, dog-theft figures have fallen, down 21% on 2023 – probably because of the introduction final yr of the Pet Abduction Act, which makes pet theft a legal offence in England and Northern Eire, punishable by as much as 5 years in jail.
And the probably stunning information? Some breeds are bucking the downward pattern.
Which ones? Nicely, the largest rise in thefts, up 180% yr on yr, is for … rottweilers.
What?! Who’d take one in every of them? They’re terrifying! They’re additionally one thing of a standing image. Superstar rottweiler house owners have included Robbie Williams, Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio …
Does he commerce them in after they get to round no matter 25 is in canine years? Cease it. At as much as 86cm in top and weighing as much as 60kg, rottweilers are sometimes used as guard canine. There’s irony in pets stored to forestall housebreaking getting stolen.
By no means thoughts irony, I’d be extra involved about these enamel. With puppies going for 2 and a half grand, criminals may not see the enamel for the pound indicators, because the saying goes.
Do say: “Sorry pal, however you’re staying on the lead.”
Don’t say: “So unhappy! What I miss most about her is … her potential for producing litters of high-value puppies.”
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