I wrote this last night after it happened, but it was unreadable due to a higher lever of incoherency than normal (plus a lot of swearing). I’ve totally rewritten it.
Long story, I’ll try to condense. There is a fellow up here, young man, long list of minor criminal offences who is no longer allowed to set foot within x number of kms of Toronto. But our young fellow is an excellent basketball player, so he has come to a city right down the road where I live (I guess it’s one of the closest “big” cities to Toronto with a college). He is being sponsored by someone or another to play basketball somewhere or other.
The reason I first heard of him is that a few of us who do animal rescue in the area where told to be on the look out for him and his girlfriend, because they train and fight pitbulls, part of training pitbulls to fight involves getting smaller or less aggressive dogs, and having the pits rip them apart. (cats too, which is why I always cringe when I see the ‘free to good home’ ads.)
So I get an email from someone enquiring about a dog I have listed for adoption on a website. We make arrangements for the person to come and meet the dog at a local off leash dog park. I get to the park early, and the potential adoptee is playing with some other dogs at the park. Then the potential adopters get there. And I know, right away, this was the couple we were warned about (I’m not going to be accused of racism, so I’m just going to say for this area these two were very distinctive…heck, probably even in Toronto the two together would have stood out). Obviously they used a fake name when they contacted me. They came up to me and asked if I was Magayuk (well, y’know…). I asked them if they were um, Bob and Jane (not the real names, obviously), (I used the name I had been warned about, not the names they used when they emailed me). The guy just stared at me, and asked where the dog was. I told him that she wasn’t looking for a home anymore, thanks for asking; sorry you made the drive out here…yadda yadda. Unfortunately the dog at that point decided she was done playing with the other dogs, and came over to see us. She went up to the girlfriend, who grabbed her.
At this point I yelled at her to let go of the dog NOW. I was trying to draw attention to them. I was afraid to physically confront them (this guy is big, I’m a short chick). They took the dog in their SUV, and drove off.(I was going to say dragged, but really the dog was just as happy to get in their car as mine…she’s a hound mix, and they are dumb that way sometimes).
I am freakin out now, I have had this dog for months, and these scumbags aren’t going to hurt her. So I get in my car, call the police on my cell, and follow them. We ended up driving down the highway. The guy wasn’t even speeding, I am sure he thought I wasn’t going to be able to do anything even if I caught up.
However I know the area, and I was thrilled because dumbass was heading right towards a police station. We didn’t even get half way there when a cruiser pulled them over. And I got my dog back, and dumbass is now charged with theft.
