Watch Tip for week of June 13

Watch out for dog thieves in your neighborhood. They might steal dogs to sell to research facilities or to use as bait to train fighting dogs. They might steal intact females to breed and sell her puppies. They might steal cute little purebred dogs to sell at flea markets. They will steal in broad daylight from your front yard. They will break into your home to steal your dogs when you work. Spread the word and protect your pets!

Service dog stolen near Viroqua WI on May 25… will she ever be found?

A family is searching frantically for a white female pit bull who was apparently stolen from the yard in late May near a small southwest Wisconsin town. She is a service dog. Sweet, beautiful, wearing ID, and not one to wander, she has been missing for almost three weeks. Is she tied to a post in an old barn somewhere, where she will be bred as soon as she comes into heat? Or is she already dead, killed by another dog in a dog fight training ring? Maybe she is already living in a cage in a research facility, lonely and afraid.

It can happen in a minute or less. Your friendly dog is sniffing around in your front yard and you are busy in the basement. A car stops, and someone leads your dog into the car with a treat, and then speeds off. No one saw it happen. Your dog didn’t bark or bite the stranger; her calm and friendly nature sealed her doom.

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Weekly Watch Tip for week of June 6:

Watch out for pets in your neighborhood if you know of a neighbor who will kill any dogs or cats trespassing in his yard, or will shoot at wildlife and mistakenly hit pets. Talk to all neighbors with pets. If you are not completely certain which neighbor is the perpetrator, do not mention names. Instead, talk about locations where dead animals have been found, or where the shot was heard. Finally, urge owners of injured or killed pets to notify the authorities and pursue justice.

Put the neighborhood on alert if pets are being killed

I received a message from an old family friend several weeks ago. My friend’s sister had urgently called him because their beloved chocolate lab girl had been shot by a neighbor. She was rushed to an emergency vet clinic for treatment and ultimately survived. How did this happen? The neighbor had been trying to eradicate coyotes and apparently mistook the brown dog for a coyote in the waning afternoon light. The dog had been freely roaming the neighborhood as was customary in that area. (Yes, roaming is a practice that is very risky and violates local ordinances in many communities.)

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