Meet the real-life pet detective who found stolen dogs
LISA HAS HELPED REUNITE 700 PETS WITH THEIR OWNERS
A PET detective who reunites animals with their heartbroken owners has told how changes need to be made to the law to stop dogs being stolen from their homes.
Lisa Dean has helped reunite 700 pets with their owners – nearly 100 this year alone. She is helping to find the eight dachshunds stolen from kennels in Burton Road, Swadlincote, six months ago.
Five are now safely back home, thanks to the efforts of many – but the search goes on for the missing three.
News of the dogs has now been spread far and wide, reportedly making them too hot to handle for those who took them.
Lisa started Beauty’s Legacy fiveand-a-half years ago when her cat Beauty went missing and her own nightmare began. She was an old black-and-white cat and Lisa was frantically trying to find her, knocking on neighbours’ doors and checking gardens.
A kind lady then offered a £150 reward for the safe return of Beauty, but when it happened, it was bittersweet.
Someone called to say they had the feline, but when Lisa went to pick her up, Beauty was very poorly and was taken to the vets, where she later died. The cheque was cashed the following morning. That is where it all started.
And it has continued to grow from there, with volunteers trained in IT and ex-police officers added to the ranks. They painstakingly go through all of the evidence in a bid to bring the pets home.
Lisa said: “A massive part of the role is supporting the families and that continues throughout, even when their pets are found.
“We’re available on the phone 24 hours a day as it’s a traumatic thing to go through and someone may want to talk at 3am.”
Sadly, when it comes to stolen dogs, finding them is not the end of the story – they often have problems as a result of being taken. Some become anxious and aggressive, while others have a poor appetite and emotional problems.
One that Lisa came across was so badly treated it had frostbite on its ears and another had a urine infection, not to mention scars inflicted by other dogs.
Those stolen to be put in new homes also have problems, even though they have been cared for, as they had become attached to their new families and feel like they are going through the same trauma over again.
Lisa said: “It’s so sad and such a cruel crime. They will all have issues.
Some bounce back quite quickly compared to others, it depends where they have been kept.
“It is not all positive getting them home, as a dog will always suffer in some way. Our biggest thing is supporting the families and campaigning for the law to change. They are always taken under duress and against their will; there’s an emotional impact on everyone.”
The 53-year-old, from Newark, Nottinghamshire, is calling for changes in the law so offences are treated as pet abduction, not theft, bringing harsher punishment.
She is also asking for a limit on what dogs can be sold for – they can
currently sell for thousands, so for thieves there is a high reward for very little risk.
More dogs have been stolen over the past year as people have spent long periods of time at home due to Covid, giving them time to train and care for a dog.
However, while there was a rise in demand, there were restrictions on registered breeders and animal charities which made it more difficult to keep up with demand – and the crooks stepped in.
Lisa said: “It’s not pet theft, it’s pet abduction and it needs to be treated that way. Only one per cent of prosecutions end up with a custodial sentence, and five per cent in court. There are massive steps to be made on the law side.
“If you change it to abduction or kidnap, it can come with a life sentence. They need to increase penalties and cut the price of selling dogs as well. If you can’t sell a dog for more than £500, rather than thousands of pounds, that will cut the number of them being stolen.
“At the moment there is a low risk for a high profit. If there was a high risk for no profit it would stop it overnight and that’s what we need to do to flip it on its head.
“There has always been the more desirable breeds, the dachshunds this year, and French bulldogs and pugs before that. A cockapoo is always popular to steal.”
As for the stolen dogs from Swadlincote,
the owners approached Lisa straight away and the charity is working with police forces across the country – one dog warden helped with two found close to each other – Rikki and
Jess.
Five have now been found and are making progress back home. Jess was the last to be found and Lisa says she is doing remarkably well and “coming out of her shell”, showing signs of who she was before her ordeal.
Now, the hunt goes on for Cookie, Doris and Nora so they can return to the safety of their home. Lisa has vowed to continue to make the public aware and do everything she can to get them home. She said: “I’d urge people to keep ringing with any snippets of information – even if it seems small, as it could make a huge difference in us getting them home.
“We’ve got loads of enquiries and would ask people to keep an ear to the ground. We need people to keep looking for them. We have banners all over the country for these dogs and it’s clear that it works.”
Lisa thanks everyone who has put up a banner, called with a tip or shared a Facebook post.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Derbyshire police, quoting reference 21000084142. You can get in touch via social media channels or on derbyshire.police.uk/Contact-Us, or call Derbyshire police on 101.
It’s not pet theft, it’s pet abduction and it needs to be treated that way by the law. Lisa Dean