Pet Theft Awareness Day becomes hot topic for dog owners in province, including in central region

“I’m the only one here from my family from Europe so this is my family. I have nobody here except friends. These are my family members,” said Wikner, originally from Sweden, about her two dogs. “I have one old dog still here and he’s miserable; this was his little brother. I know it sounds harsh to say it for those who suffer for that, but to me, it’s like child trafficking; I don’t know where he is, I don’t know what they’re doing.”

She says her dog is very friendly and playful with humans, enjoys car rides, and never leaves the 135-acre property alone and he is easily frightened.

Wikner says after putting missing posters for Gus across the province, she was overwhelmed by the number of social media pages for lost animals but has felt supported by the community’s help.

She believes there may be some organized crime as she has noticed several missing livestock dogs lost from rural areas. She speculated if people would want to abduct the dogs for breeding, as her one-year-old dog was not castrated, or training as aggressive guard dogs.

Another notable instance includes Krista Arseneau’s dog, Axal, who was last seen in December 2023 in Stony Plain. After never leaving her side for 11 years, she believes he was stolen. She created the Bring Axal Home Facebook Page for owners of lost pets.

Krista Arseneau’s dog Axal, lost in December 2023 in Stony Plain area. (Bring Axal Home Facebook page)

Arseneau claims that victims are being turned away by police, causing crimes to go unreported.

Alberta RCMP Corporal Troy Savinkoff said investigations into allegations of stolen animals are difficult as it is unsure if a theft took place at all.

In 2023, he says there were 150 civil incidents where individuals were fighting over an animal, for example, in a domestic setting where a partner refuses to give a pet back to its owner. He adds that 75 cases started off as potentially stolen dogs but were all recovered and returned to their owners and therefore not believed to be theft related. Finally, he says while there were a couple of outstanding files of dogs who wandered away and never returned, another 30 files consisted of fraud dog transactions where breeders took deposits for dogs they did not have to sell.

Savinkoff says there were five confirmed dog thefts that year, one of them being Maremma Sheepdog Dixie, stolen from the yard of Aynsley Foss in the Cochrane area in November 2023. He says the owner’s AirTag, consisting of a GPS tracking device, was removed from the dog, and later found.

“People are rather attached to their dogs. RCMP, many of us have dogs of our own, so it’s more than just a simple theft because it’s not just property; it’s a living, breathing thing that people have attachments to. It’s certainly an important crime with a lot of implications,” he said.

Maremma Sheepdog Dixie, stolen from the yard of Aynsley Foss in the Cochrane area in November 2023. (Bring Dixie Home Facebook page)

Savinkoff does not believe individuals would steal dogs for financial gain, but for various other reasons such as concern of a dog’s maltreatment or for their own companionship.

Duane Thomas, Director of Operations at Alberta Animal Services in the central Alberta region, echoed the same sentiment, adding that many dogs have been withheld by a family member or close relative in a domestic issue, while others have gone missing, particularly in rural areas, due to chasing animals and getting lost or by predators in the area.

He said that it is difficult to investigate a case alleging theft without any leads or evidence.

Savinkoff added that they have investigated into suspicious license plates phoned in by residents, which have all been inconclusive to the above investigations.

Both he and Thomas said they do not believe there is an increase in dog thefts.

Thomas also questioned why someone would want to steal a dog when shelters are overflowing with animals.

“We’re in a situation where we have a lot of people that got animals during the pandemic and now, they no longer want them and they end up in the shelters and the shelters are full of animals so it’s not a hot commodity,” he said.

“During the pandemic, everybody was looking for an animal and everybody was willing to pay whatever to adopt an animal because they wanted one. Probably during those times frames it would have been a lot more people that had their animals stolen.”

Thomas suggested pet owners place as many pieces of identification on their pets as possible like AirTags, collars, microchips with updated information, and never leaving them unattended, even on their own property.

The AADWA encourages victims to make a police report as soon as they believe their pet has been abducted and request to speak to the Staff Sergeant at their local police department, as having a Police Incident Report number can help in follow-up investigations.

They also intend to advocate for increased penalties for those found guilty of stealing animals. Currently, the crime to steal a pet is considered theft under $5,000. Other jurisdictions like the United Kingdom are working to enforce stricter laws for pet abductions.

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by Alessia Proietti

Pet Theft Awareness Day becomes hot topic for dog owners in province, including in central region

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