Willow was my shadow, she stuck to me like Velcro.
As soon as I got up in the morning, my dog knew it was breakfast, and after the school run it was our time to have a walk. If I sat down, so would she, and if I got up she would look around as if to say, where’s Mum going?
Willow was stolen over two years ago, on September 17, 2018. My family is now facing our third Christmas without her and it is tortuous.
The day Willow disappeared was sunny and hot. I needed to nip out so I gave Willow and our puppy, Saffy, the run of the back garden. A place that should be safe.
I was gone for 45 minutes and when I came back, only Saffy was there. I immediately had a sick, sinking feeling that Willow had been stolen. As a sprocker spaniel she is a sought after breed, as trained gun dogs can sell for thousands. It would have been so out of her character to go off and Saffy was learning everything from her, so if Willow had run away, Saffy would have gone, too.
I searched the surrounding roads and my neighbours rang the farmers and gamekeepers in the rural area where we live, but no one had seen a loose dog. When Willow hadn’t come home for dinner at 5pm, I called the police.
I feel very fortunate that they took me seriously and gave me a crime reference number. I have learnt a lot about pet theft since Willow’s disappearance, and this is definitely not everyone’s experience. I’ve heard owners’ stories of police forces that won’t even register dogs being stolen as a crime, and that they treat pet theft as low priority.
Dog theft falls under the Theft Act 1968 and carries a maximum penalty of seven years, but as there is no specific provision for animals, they are treated as ‘property’ with no distinction between a beloved family pet and, say, a vase on a shelf. And while Willow was microchipped, it’s not compulsory for vets to check for chips if stolen pets are taken in for a check-up. The system is broken.
The weeks after Willow’s disappearance were heartbreaking. Friends came round to help me make posters and distribute them around the village; as a family we hung dirty laundry up outside and put sausages on the barbecue – two of her favourite things – every day for three weeks, but nothing.
I also became increasingly aware of how widespread dog theft is. According to data from Dog Lost, a site that aims to reunite lost dogs with their owners, there has been a 70% increase in reported thefts of gun dogs in 2020 alone.
A freedom of information request submitted by Daniel Allen, an Animal Geographer at Keele University, looked at 39 of 44 police forces in England and Wales and revealed that recorded dog theft crimes had risen almost 20% from 2015 to 2018.
The pandemic has only compounded the issue, as people’s desire to get a pet during lockdown has pushed demand and price sky-high.
We paid £450 for Willow in 2016 but I’ve seen numerous alerts for dogs like her going for up to £2,500.
Going through lockdown without Willow has changed us as a family – we’ve all been affected mentally and one of my children has had grief therapy as a result. I can’t really believe that she is still not home. At times I feel like I’m going over old ground again and again, banging my head against a wall.
I still put up with hoax calls from people who got my number from Facebook and posters, phoning up demanding money, or kids doing it for a laugh. The worst is when people ring up pretending they took Willow saying awful things about what they have done to her.
I call myself a campaigner on this issue now; I have to do something, not just for myself but for others. I don’t want other families to go through what we are.
I have spoken as a victims’ representative in an online meeting led by the Petition Committee to explore making pet theft a specific crime in its own right. Three petitions created to enact reform have collected over 700,000 signatures between them, yet the Government has yet to act.
Things have to change. We give our pets a name, we feed them and they are reliant on us – I see their theft as kidnap, and there should be a higher price for those responsible to pay.
I am still hopeful that Willow will come back one day. Even now, when I shout for Saffy I go to call Willow too and she is always there at the back of my mind.
Until that day, I tell myself that Willow is being taken care of by a loving family – just not the right one.
For more information on Pet Theft Reform, please visit facebook.com/PetTheftReform and you can read more about Freya’s campaign to find Willow here.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing rosy.edwards@metro.co.uk.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/11/30/my-dog-was-stolen-two-years-ago-but-i-havent-given-up-hope-of-finding-her-13666238/
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