SECUNDA – A suspected dog thief was stopped from peddling a Yorkshire terrier puppy on Monday morning, thanks to the quick action of a local animal lover.
Ms Susan Smith encountered the alleged animal snatcher in the parking lot at Solly’s Supermarket, between the entrances to Kalahari Slaghuis and Syrmia Vet.
“He claimed his other dogs were not getting along with the puppy and wanted to sell it for R300.
“I offered to take the dog off his hands and find it a good home, but the young man insisted on selling the poor thing. He apparently needed the money to buy food,” said Ms Smith.
She immediately felt uneasy and asked him to wait while she popped into the vet’s consulting rooms.
“As soon as I went inside, I gave my phone to the receptionist to send an urgent message on the Secunda Verlore Diere WhatsApp group.”
Ms Smith received a reply to keep the man occupied until help arrived.
“At that point my 88-year-old mother became quite agitated in the car and I asked another woman to stall the man,” explained Ms Smith.
The suspect also realised the sale was not going to happen and walked away in the direction of the bottle store.
The news spread quickly on the Paws 911 Zello group and within minutes the man, who tried to give everyone the slip, was nabbed.
“While I was there, another man told me that this guy tried to sell a laptop at the same spot the previous week,” said Ms Smith.
She described the culprit as a white man in his early 20’s with a tanned complexion. He was wearing a hat with camouflage, khaki shorts and a grey T-shirt. Ms Smith said the man was lean, but not skinny.
A member of the WhatsApp group posted a photo of the man and accompanied him to where he claimed he lived. The scoundrel eventually came out with the truth that he had stolen the puppy from a house he frequented.
Mr Garth Calitz recognised the man from the photo as the man whom he had bought a Yorkshire terrier outside Bosch Pets last year.
“I gave him R200 and a stern warning that I never wanted to catch him selling animals again. Other people have seen him trying to lure small dogs to a fence in order to snatch them.”
The stolen puppy was given back to its owners on Monday, but although they were upset, they declined to press charges.
Ms Chantel Vorster, founder of the WhatsApp group and Paws 911, said the members on these groups did a splendid job.
