New York Post

LOUSY CUR STOLE MY DOG

Gal’s hunt after Union Sq. ‘pupnap’

- By AMANDA WOODS Additional reporting by Daniel Prendergas­t

A Manhattan woman is desperate searching for her beloved Pomeranian after the pooch was kidnapped at the farmers’ market in Union Square.

Michelle Martin, 28, was shopping for produce with little Mala Sutra and her three other dogs on March 27 when 4-yearold Mala got out of sight and was apparently snatched, she told The Post Monday.

“I was horrified,” Martin recalled. “I thought, OK, there was no way the dog would have run away . . . I thought someone had found her and was looking for the owner.”

Martin, a yoga instructor, said she asked her student, who was with her, to help hunt for Mala.

They began shouting the dog’s name, to no avail.

“That’s when the fear started to set in that she might really be gone,” Martin said.

Soon, another shopper approached Martin and told her Mala, who was not on a leash, was grabbed by a dognapper.

“Someone told me they saw someone pick her up and walk out with her,” Martin said.

She called 911 and told the whole story to police, including the witness’ account of how Mala had been abducted.

Martin, who lives in Gramercy, said that she visited the 13th Precinct station house on Monday to follow up and that officers there told her a detective would be investigat­ing Mala’s disappeara­nce.

Police said Monday afternoon that Martin told them she was at the Union Square Greenmarke­t when one of her dogs got swept up in the crowd and she lost sight of it. But they had no informatio­n about the witness’ claim that the dog was snatched.

Desperate to be reunited with Mala, Martin has even consulted with a psychic for clues.

The psychic “believes [the thief ] lives in Brooklyn, had just gotten out of jail and had stolen the dog for one of his children,” Martin said.

The search for Mala even got a star-power boost on Monday,when he rapper T.I. — a friend of Martin’s — asked his 19.3 million Facebook followers for help.

“Attn NYC . . . Please help my good friends bring their loved dog home,” he posted.

The other three dogs who were with Martin were Mala’s mate, Munay, and their pups, Morrigan and Merlin. All three were on leashes.

Martin posted fliers about her missing pooch in each of the branches of Y7 Studio, where she teaches yoga.

She is offering a $3,000 reward for Mala’s safe return.

 ??  ?? WHERE’S MALA? Michelle Martin, here with two of her other pups Monday, has posted fliers offering a reward for the return of her dog Mala Sutra, whom she says was snatched at a farmers’ market.
WHERE’S MALA? Michelle Martin, here with two of her other pups Monday, has posted fliers offering a reward for the return of her dog Mala Sutra, whom she says was snatched at a farmers’ market.

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