Nick Ralston
June 14, 2011
Hot dog ... George back with his owner, Nahji Chu
It had only just gone dark when George, a three-year-old blue Staffie, was stolen in a brazen dognapping at a busy Kings Cross intersection.
A friend of his owner Nahji Chu had taken George for a short walk and tied him to a pole while she used the ATM on the corner of Bayswater and Darlinghurst roads. A minute later she turned back and he was gone - the latest victim in a spate of dognappings.
An elderly woman watched as a tall, bald man with his right arm in plaster untied George's leash and walked off with him about 5pm last Friday.
It sparked a two-day hunt across the inner city for George, with 20 people on foot and thousands of posters offering a $4000 reward.
A Facebook group spreading the word about George's theft attracted 900 supporters and by Sunday night #findGeorge was the top trending topic on Twitter in Sydney.
The good news for Ms Chu came yesterday morning when police spotted George walking with a man fitting the description of the alleged thief in Redfern. She had received a number of tip-offs from strangers that he was in that area.
''It just goes to show that there are [criminals] out there but they are not going to get away with crime when there is social media like there is today. It's quite a powerful tool, Facebook,'' she said.
George is not the only Staffie to be a target of dognappers recently. Shannon Bavister from Wilton had her two Staffies, Mack and Mia, taken from her backyard on Saturday. She went straight to the police after she returned home and found her gate closed but both dogs gone. They have not been found.
Asked if the dogs were being taken to be sold, used to breed or in illegal dogfights, one Staffie breeder said: ''It's a little bit of everything.''
Last Wednesday, at a dog park in Parramatta, Staffie owners were approached by a man asking if they would like to earn money by entering their dog in fights.
At Bligh Park, a Staffie named Elvis disappeared only days after he had found a home. He was returned to his owner when a woman, who had bought the dog from a man outside a nearby shopping plaza for $300, saw a ''missing'' poster.
Source:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/facebark-campaign-helps-collar-dog-thief-20110613-1g0j9.html
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