Rebecca Clark
2011-12-02 18:25:35
SHELBY — Adrian Lovelace crouched down on the concrete floor and, when the kennel door had been sprung open, he called out “Morgan, Morgan.”
The black and white pit bull immediately made a beeline for Lovelace, jumping up on his chest and licking his face.
He didn’t think he would ever see his dog again.
The pit bull had been last year’s Christmas gift for his fiancée and had become a beloved family pet.
Several weeks ago, the dog disappeared.
An indoor pet for the most part, Morgan would be let out in the morning to go the bathroom and would often relax on an old loveseat on the front porch of the home on Dekalb Street.
“She would jump up and lounge,” Lovelace said.
The day she disappeared, Lovelace said Morgan had been outside while he made a quick run to the store with his son-in-law.
When they returned to the house, Morgan was gone.
At first, Lovelace thought she might have wandered off, but when she didn’t turn up after a thorough search of the neighborhood and a trip to the Cleveland County Animal Shelter, he began to lose hope of her return.
“We figured somebody put her in the car and she’s gone,” Lovelace said.
A couple of weeks after Morgan’s disappearance, two men were arrested in Shelby after animal control officers discovered that they were using pit bulls for dog fighting.
Patrick Tyler Philbeck, 21, and Daniel Blakely Bridges, 20, were arrested and charged with felony dog fighting.
A total of five dogs were seized and taken to the animal shelter.
Sam Lockridge, county health services coordinator, said he will petition the courts to have the owners cover the cost of feeding and housing the dogs. If the owners cannot pay or choose not to pay, the animals will then be turned over to the shelter to either be adopted or euthanized.
When the story appeared on the front page of The Star recently, a black and white pit bull was pictured with the story.
She is shown sitting in a kennel, ears back, her brown eyes sad and beseeching.
That dog was Morgan.
Mary Johnson, Lovelace’s fiancée, said shortly after the story ran, her sister called her and told her she had to see a photo on The Star’s website.
“I knew it was her as soon as I saw,” Johnson said.
“If her picture hadn’t have been on the front page, we never would have found her,” Lovelace said. “We got lucky. Everything came together.”
After proving that Morgan was their dog through vaccination records, Lovelace was able to take her home.
The pet was seized from Philbeck and Bridges just in time.
Lockridge said in a video police had obtained, the dog was seen pulling a sled up and down the street with a tire on top in an attempt to build up muscle.
“It’s terrible,” he said. “No reason for it.”
Lovelace said Morgan has never even been in a fight before.
“She’s very family oriented,” he said.
He said he is planning to have a microchip installed for easier identification to ensure Morgan never goes missing again.
Source: http://www.shelbystar.com/articles/stolen-60472-dog-owner.html
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