We broke down when we saw it was our dognapped Wilma
A DOGNAPPED French Bulldog pup has been reunited with her owners after she was snatched from their home.
Wilma’s owners, Christie Wibberley and Steve Bates, were distraught when their pet was taken from their Stoney Stanton home on October 23.
They had only physically owned the 15-week-old pup for a week.
In a bid to find Wilma, they set up a social media campaign, working with charity Beauty’s Legacy, run by Lisa Dean.
Thousands of people joined the online campaign with many pleading with the captors to release her.
A reward of £3,000 was also put in place after an anonymous £2,000 donation for anyone who had information that might lead to finding Wilma.
On Sunday November 10, the couple’s dream of being reunited came true when Wilma was spotted wandering around Braunstone alone.
Speaking with a snoring Wilma on his lap, Steve said: “It still doesn’t feel real. A woman contacted me at 10.30am saying she had seen Wilma in her back garden.
“We said we needed to see pictures and when we did we thought it was a close match.
“We arranged to meet at the vets on Dominion Road at about 11 and as soon as we saw her we broke down.
“We just couldn’t believe it, we didn’t think this would happen.”
Wilma was slightly malnourished and had not been fed properly but there were no physical injuries.
Steve and Christie feared because of her special dietary requirements she would become extremely unwell if she wasn’t found quickly.
But now Wilma is home safe the frantic search is over.
“Living with this and with the flood as well, made living extremely difficult, so there’s that relief to have her back,” said Steve.
“She’s not just an object that you can replace, she’s a part of the family.”
The couple want to thank every volunteer who helped to share the appeals online and those who helped to put up posters. Lisa Dean runs Beauty’s Legacy, a charity that helped to aid the search for Wilma.
She wanted to thank the thousands of people who helped in the search for Wilma with its “fantastic result”.
She said: “Every single share is valuable, I’m so proud of my team and this has restored my faith in human nature.
“I had a very heartfelt teary conversation with Christie the day before we found her, and she was very much gearing up to be searching for a long time.
“But to have her back in her arms 24 hours later is fabulous.
“I think because of the campaign and attention that was drawn to her she was incredibly hot to handle and her captors had no option but to cut her loose.”
She said what Christie and Steve will have to go through now is something of a “come down” because they have been surviving on adrenaline for the past 18 days.
But there is support in place for the couple from Beauty’s Legacy to help them get through what has been a very traumatic time. Although Wilma has been found, Lisa said there is still an “enormous” problem with dog thefts and plenty of owners are never reunited with their owners.
Under the 1968 Theft Act, dogs are still seen as second-hand goods and as a result thieves are not hit with punishments that fit the anguish they bring, according to Stolen and Missing Pets Alliance.
A debate will take place in Parliament after the General Election in a bid to amend the law.
Steve said that he hopes the £3,000 reward will be donated to charity.
Every single share is valuable, this has restored my faith in human nature