By rdnewsNOW staff

Red Deer man warns of attempted dog-napping

Jan 31, 2019 | 4:02 PM

A Red Deer man says he won’t be leaving his dogs unattended in his backyard anymore after an alleged abduction attempt last weekend.

Mahlon Adam Westby says his close call took place between 10:30 – 11:00 p.m. Sunday night. He was taking one of his two dogs outside to the backyard of his four-plex residence in Highland Green when his one-year-old Border Collie – German Shepherd got loose.

“I hooked her up to the lead outside because she’s run away before,” he explains. “So I was just fixing my gate because my gate is broken and I just kind of shut it and she went around the corner. I come around the corner and there’s this lady bent over through the garbage cut-out with a leash in-hand telling my dog to come over to her.”

Westby says that’s when he told the woman to ‘Get out of here’ but she didn’t comply.

“So I started walking towards her and then she took off and got inside a silver Ford Escape, she was the passenger,” recalls Westby. “She’s white, late 20’s, early 30’s. I saw blonde hair, it looked like it was long but pulled back though and she was wearing a black hoodie, dark pants and sneakers.”

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Westby says it’s the first time he or his dogs have experienced something like this and it’s left him feeling shaken.

“When I take them outside now, I don’t even let them go on the lead right away, I put them on their leash,” he exclaims. “I close the gate, have them in my hands and walk around the corner so I can see them.”

Westby says he contacted Red Deer RCMP the night of the incident but as of Jan. 30, Cpl. Karen Kay says they haven’t received any such reports of attempted dognappings in the city despite numerous social media reports claiming otherwise.

A woman who lives in Normandeau shared on Facebook that a woman tried to steal her dogs on Tuesday afternoon. People in Sylvan Lake, Springbrook and Olds have been sharing similar posts involving attempted dog thefts.

In November, a former B.C. woman who tried to steal the dog of an Innisfail family last summer by posing as an animal control officer was given a 90-day sentence in Red Deer provincial court.

by rdnewsNOW staff

Red Deer man warns of attempted dog-napping

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