POUND PUPPY PILFER
Grinch at shelter
A thief swiped a tiny dog from a New Jersey animal shelter — right before the pooch was going to be adopted, officials said.
Tub Tub, a 9-year-old male Pomeranian, was stolen from the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter in Eatontown at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, according to a post on the organization’s Facebook page.
“His microchip has been reported stolen and we are checking our cameras and doing everything else we can to track this boy down,” the post reads.
The animal center is typically swamped before the holidays with families looking to adopt pets, workers said.
So the staff didn’t realize Tub Tub was gone until his adoptive owner tried to pick him up, the Asbury Park Press reported.
“I hope you find him and the person that stole him is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” commenter Cheryl Lynn Thomas wrote on Facebook.
Eatontown police were notified about the pooch theft.
Staff at the shelter are now hoping for a holiday miracle.
“It’s really sad on Christmas Eve that we have to experience it,” SPCA Chief and Executive Director Ross Licitra told the Asbury Park Press.
Anyone with information on the pup heist is asked to call Eatontown police at (732) 542-0100.
The shelter is dedicated to protecting and advocating for animals, promoting anti-cruelty laws, and providing a safe haven for homeless and abused anipets, according to the mission statement on its Web site.