Britain is in the throes of a dognapping crime wave
Animal welfare investigators blame the pandemic. The demand for dogs is massive, but there are so few for sale or adoption.
LONDON — Tilly was snatched from her bed. Moet was nabbed from her home. Angel plucked from her garden.
A former boxer fought off a thief with a knife who tried to boost Rosie the collie. A Maltipoo named Nala disappeared, as if from a TV thriller, along with her dog walker’s van. A pair of guileless labs, named Denzel and Welly, were led away from an upscale market. The surveillance footage made the evening news. So did their rescue this week.
Britain is in the throes of a huge dognapping crime wave. This is extremely distressing, in this nation of animal lovers, another emotional lashing in a strange and terrible year.
The humane societies and rescue charities in Britain say they have never seen anything like it. Animal welfare investigators blame the pandemic. The demand for dogs is massive, but there are so few for sale or adoption. So crime bosses are now puppy brokers.
In the United States, the most famous recent case involved Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs, Koji and Gustav, stolen from her dog walker, Ryan Fischer, who was shot during the dog robbery in West Hollywood.
In Britain, the problem has risen to the level of senior government officials.
Home Secretary Priti Patel called the reported rise in pet theft “absolutely shocking.” Police Minister Kit Malthouse vowed action, saying, “It’s a sad fact that criminals will seek to profit by this vile crime.”
Parliament is debating tougher laws, after being handed not one but two petitions, with hundreds of thousands of signatures, urging authorities to make dog theft a serious offense, punishable by eight years in prison and $7,500 in fines.
Currently, English law treats dogs as property, with punishment commensurate with the value of the object.
In practice, that makes a dog’s value equal to a stolen microwave, TV set or mobile phone — a few hundred dollars or less. Petitioners want this to change — to make the offense more akin to the kidnapping of a member of the family.
There’s some hysteria in all this, of course, stoked by the tabloid newspapers and goaded by social media rumor. Not every missing dog has been purloined by fiends.
But the Brits love their dogs — and their dogs are getting nicked.
“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been in the field for 35 years,” said Wayne May, police liaison with Dog Lost, Britain’s largest lost-and-found dog service.
May said thefts reported to his organization have increased 250 percent, year-over-year.
“That’s over 400 cases, just in England, just reported to us,” he said. “This isn’t a dog that’s run off; this is a reported case of theft.”
Investigators talk about the emergence of a new “puppy mafia.” They say some of the same traffickers who usually deal in the prostitution, drugs and gun sales have turned to Labradoodles, unscrupulously exploiting the exploding demand.
“The cost of a puppy has considerably increased over the past year, making this a lucrative market for organized criminals to exploit,” said Amanda Blakeman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for acquisitive crime.
Britain is only beginning to stagger out of its third national coronavirus lockdown, and the months of shut-in life under strict stay-at-home orders have made many people hungry for the (mostly) unconditional love of four-legged companions (who need lots of walks and food).
A dog that would normally cost $500 is now $2,500 or more — if you can find one. Even rescue shelters are out of mutts. An internet search for available dogs for adoption in the London area showed only a few dogs here and there. Brits looking for companions have started rescuing dogs from abroad.
“Prices for puppies have gone through the roof,” said Jacob Lloyd, senior investigator for Animal Protection Services. He described a new “Wild West” of dog wheeling and dealing.
“I blame society, too,” he said. “People don’t want to wait. They want a dog, and they want a dog now.”