SAN JACINTO, Calif. (AP) — Coco, a reddish-brown pit bull with white markings, went missing from her Southern California home on Thanksgiving. Nearly a month later, she was found and reunited with her owners — but she was a different color.
Riverside County animal services officials made the match when they scanned a stray, black dog for an implanted microchip and found she was listed as an 8-month-old reddish-brown pit bull adopted in October from a San Jacinto shelter, the Press-Enterprise reported (http://bit.ly/1JxnzqH ).
Officials believe Coco was stolen and dyed in an act of deception to make it harder for owners Christopher Ingrassi and Heather Lowry to find her, said Riverside County Field and Shelter Deputy Director Frank Corvino. Officials believe the dog escaped from the thief’s property.
“The dye job is not very good,” Corvino said in a statement. “But it would work if someone’s looking for their missing, reddish-brown dog.”
Animal Services spokesman John Welsh said Coco shouldn’t suffer any long-term consequences from the dye.
Lowry said she was shocked when she learned what had happened to Coco.
“I didn’t think someone would go as far as to dying a dog’s fur to keep them,” she told animal control officials, according to the statement.
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Information from: The Press-Enterprise, http://www.pe.com
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
If someone did this to one stolen dog, we can bet that they are doing it to other stolen dogs, and passing them off to unsuspecting customers somewhere. I’d hope most pedigree dogs get a chip installed soon after birth, but my bet is that lots of them don’t.
This actually happened to me. Those involved in searching for her (i was in Italy) were closing in on the culprits. They decided to return her (Addie) after getting the phone# from a reward notice. My friend didn’t recognize her, Addie was also much heavier. The friend took them to my neighbor to get verification that it was indeed my dog. When the van door opened in front of my house, she bolted out of van and under the front porch. My friend said, “I think that’s her, let me get the reward check.” The next thing she heard was the van screaming down the road.
Addie was laying on the front porch sleeping when i returned from Italy, i walked right past her, not recognizing that she was home safe.
just lol
Boy am I glad that it’s Monday so that we have the really big stories and headlines. I wish there was as much money and energy spent tracking lost and stolen children. Gradually pets are supplanting children in importance.
I’ve enjoyed TPM for years and years, and Josh is one of the best at what he does. Still, I now find myself steeled for the inevitable articles about water skiing squirrels, Girl Scout cookie sales busted for lack of a permit and the dependable click bait…a two-headed frog!!!