By: Bethany Lindsay, ctvbc.ca
Date: Friday Dec. 2, 2011 6:02 PM PT
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| Allison Coyle is reunited with her dog Piper 10 months after the pet was taken from her apartment. |
A woman whose dog was allegedly stolen by the operator of a B.C. "rescue" centre and then put up for adoption has been reunited with her beloved pet 10 months later.
Allison Coyle's dog Piper disappeared from her apartment in February while she was at work, and she was told that he had escaped while her roommate was moving out.
Coyle began a desperate search and soon discovered a Kijiji ad from A Better Life Dog Rescue indicating that Piper was up for sale.
"[I was] absolutely shocked and right away I called the RCMP," she told CTV News.
This week, A Better Life founder Janet Olson and her co-director Louise Reid were charged with break and enter and theft for allegedly snatching dogs out of people's yards in Surrey and Coquitlam this year.
When the news broke, police received a tip about another dog that had been adopted by a couple in Chilliwack through A Better Life. That dog turned out to be Piper.
Late Friday afternoon, Coyle and Piper were brought back together again in a tearful reunion.
"Piper is my everything. I'm just really excited and happy and it's just been crazy," Coyle said. "I just don't want to let him go now."
Olson admitted to CTV News that she posted the Kijiji ad, but said there was a mix-up and the post was supposed to be for a lost dog at the request of Coyle's former roommate.
"We did not steal that dog -- of course not. That dog was living inside a house. Why would we steal a dog living inside a house? That would make no sense at all," Olson said.
Surrey RCMP Cpl. Drew Grainger says that investigators are recommending further charges against Olson in relation to the theft of Piper.
Allegations date back years and across U.S. border
There's a long history of police complaints against Olson, an Air Canada pilot. Four years ago, a pet owner in Washington State called police to report that her dogs had been stolen and A Better Life might be involved.
Two dogs named Lady and Lucky were spirited away from Anne Gardiners's unlocked garage in Redmond on Nov. 25, 2007.
"It was really upsetting to me," Gardiner told ctvbc.ca. "My daughter had a very hard time, for a very long time, grieving over those dogs."
Gardiner said that it took a "monumental effort" for her to track the dogs to their new owners, but she located them in White Rock and learned they'd been adopted through A Better Life.
She got in touch with the new owners, but soon learned they had returned the dogs to A Better Life. Gardiner hasn't heard anything about Lady or Lucky since.
The dogs had only been with their new owners in B.C. for two weeks when police called, the family told ctvbc.ca. But the theft allegations left them stuck between a rock and a hard place -- Olson had told them Lady and Lucky were abused by their former owners and in need of rescue.
The family made the tough choice to return the dogs to A Better Life, but say the decision has "haunted" them ever since.
"I thought we were making a really responsible decision by adopting through a rescue centre," said the wife, who asked not to be named.
"I would never adopt a dog from a rescue operation again."
A Facebook group called No Better Life collects stories from pet owners who claim that their dogs were stolen by Olson. The missing pets include Hunter, an Airedale cut from its chain in a family yard in 2008 and then allegedly put up for adoption through A Better Life.
In an interview with CTV News this week, Olson said that she doesn't steal dogs, but rather rescues them from cruel owners.
"These are sentient creatures. They deserve to have their rights protected by society," she said.
But Gardiner adamantly denies that her dogs were mistreated. She said she went to "great Lengths" to make sure the animals were cared for, and spent about $3,000 to train them.
In the most recent theft cases, Mounties say they caught Olson and Reid, wearing uniforms reading "Animal Welfare," lifting a bulldog named Samson from a property in Coquitlam on Nov. 21.
Olson claims the dog was "at risk of freezing to death," and needed rescuing.
The BC SPCA says that it has heard similar allegations against A Better Life over the years. Marcie Moriarty, general manager of cruelty investigations, calls the claims "disturbing."
She says that animal rescues should be left to SPCA constables, who can confirm cases of animal cruelty and obtain warrants to seize the animals.
"It's important to deal with these issues legally," she said. "We can save animals' lives that way."
The SPCA works with more than 60 animal rescue organizations in B.C., but does not associate with A Better Life, according to Moriarty.
"They do not fit our standards," she said. "We work with lawful rescues who follow the law."
Surrey RCMP say they are looking into historical theft allegations against A Better Life, and are asking anyone whose pets have gone missing under suspicious circumstances to call police. Gardiner says she has been in touch with Mounties since Olson and Reid's arrest.
Olson and Reid are scheduled to make their next appearance in Surrey provincial court on Dec. 15.
Source: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111202/bc_a_better_life_dog_theft_111202/20111202/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
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