Portsmouth Humane Society employees are hoping for the quick return of Laverne and Shirley.
The two dogs, both pit bull puppies, are believed to have been stolen from the kennel yard Saturday morning, said Susan Mirman, manager and adoption coordinator. The kennel is located at 2704 Frederick Blvd.
Kennel workers were cleaning and had put the dogs in the yard Saturday morning when they were snatched, Mirman said. The thief had to move quickly because kennel workers were walking between the facility and the yard constantly, she said.
"Whoever it was, they were watching our routine," Mirman said.
She said several teens had been in the shelter on Friday and had been interested in the puppies. They spent some time at the kennel that day but were told they have to be 21 to adopt a pet.
Mirman said she believes the thief might have taken the dogs believing they could be used for breeding. But that isn't possible because the dogs recently were spayed.
The dogs still have stitches and need to be handled with that in mind, Mirman said. "They really need to be under our care," Mirman said.
Shelter workers began caring for the dogs after they were seized by animal control officers about a month ago, she said. They arrived with cuts and infections.
Mirman said she would be happy to accept the dogs back with no questions asked.
"Even if they put them back in the yard at night, I don't care, bring them back," Mirman said.
Anyone with information can call the shelter at (757) 397-6004 or call police.
Cindy Clayton, (757) 446-2377, cindy.clayton@pilotonline.com
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I don't suppose....
any of you ever considered the possibility that the people who STOLE the animals might be the ones responsible? Animals are stolen more often than you might realize and sadly, dumped at shelters all over Hampton Roads, even the Virginia Beach SPCA which has a sterling reputation as a leader in Hampton Roads animal welfare has had animals stolen from the INSIDE of their shelter while they were open for business and guess what? The director and shelter manager is still working there, still working hard and still making strides forward on behalf of the animals in our area. A puppy was even stolen from Puppyville several months ago while they were open for business, too. Fortunately, that guy was dressed like a circus clown and was pretty easy to pick out in a crowd.
What would you have them do, keep the animals locked in a cage 24/7 and never allow them outdoors? Then you'd be whining about how "cruel" it was. Any business (which an animal shelter most certainly is, albeit a non-profit) suffers from theft from time to time-it happens and that's one of the reasons yo're watched on camera from just about the
Wow ...
Interesting developments. I didn't even realize the shelter had a new director; yes she's doing a bang-up job of letting dogs be stolen, blaming volunteers, and hiding behind her other staff members. Why isn't she commenting on this story? I guess the buck stops ... somewhere else! Shelter apologists aside, leaving dogs unattended is at worst illegal (I am pretty sure there is a state law against it) and at best really bad practice. This is not someone's backyard!
It is, in no way, illegal to
It is, in no way, illegal to let dogs run around in a secured, enclosed area that's surrounded by a 6 ft fence.
I guess I'm just a little confused as to why so many people are blaming the director, when it was obviously the thieves who did wrong here. This could have happened anywhere. Dogs have been stolen out of peoples' backyards. Pets have been stolen from petstores with customers and employees feet away.
It's simply impossible to have one employee/volunteer sit and watch the dogs play in the secured area all day. They're not exactly crawling with people willing to work such a demanding job for minimum wage. It'd be great if many of these nay-sayers would volunteer their time so you could see the realities of the shelter.
Common sense
That facility is ran down, and poorly organized. The cages are extremely small, and big dogs are stuffed into them like marshmellows. The outside run isn't any different than someones "SMALL" backyard, with an old 6' chainlink fence. All
All it takes is a little common sense to realize that the animals shouldn't be left unsupervised given the facilities limited accomodations, and the staff member in question of the two puppies probably knows more than they are admitting to.
I doubt someone sat there watching and waiting for two pit puppies to be left outside. It's more likely that the person knew what time to be there, and how long they had.
Stolen puppies and Portsmouth Humane responsibility
I fear that these type scenarios in addition to other negative stories, and transitions I've personally witnessed at this shelter are only the beginning. What kind of human resource dept would bring a new director from Williamsburg to P-town? Change of scenery is an understatement. When the previous directors where there, I only heard of the good going on there. Fundraisers for animals brought in with special circumstances, etc. The person(s) that oversees this shelter, its staff and director needs to be investigated thoroughly, with ethics, morals and motives checked! For Puckeatr who stated if they were stolen that means someone wanted them and they are being cared for, how many positives stories have you heard regarding stolen pit bulls in urban/crime-filled areas? The care they are receiving is probably their mouths being duct taped shut so they can't defend themselves, and used as bait for the championship fighting dogs. Check into reality already.
I would like to offer
I would like to offer another point of view for you.
The shelter is incredibly under-funded and yes, outdated. Because of lack of funds, employees and directors don't exactly get paid top dollar. They are there for the love of animals and work with what they are given. Obviously, this means that the shelter has had quite a few changes in staff over the past few years. The new director is actually doing a fantastic job - the shelter in Williamsburg is very successful largely because of her. If you only knew what happened behind closed doors with the past directors, you would probably agree with me.
Jenn08
Here's a different point of view also. You stated "Because of lack of funds, employees and directors don't exactly get paid top dollar." The director there has a $70K plus salary.
Your routine shouldn't be
That staff member's comment is eye-opening. The Portsmouth Humane Society's regular "routine" is such that someone came to know that the staff would be leaving dogs unattended long enough for them to come and steal them. That's quite a routine all right, and suggests a total lack of proper animal supervision.
I find it difficult to
I find it difficult to believe the dogs were left outside in the pen for more than a few minutes by themselves. Regardless, that's no more than what most pet owners do with their own dogs when they let them in their backyards. These dogs are enclosed in a secured, 6 ft pen when they are let out to run.
At the shelter there are employees and volunteers constantly walking in and out of the side and back doors - walking dogs, hanging up laundry, dumping trash, getting supplies out of the shed, taking dogs in and out of the pens, even taking smoke breaks. Whoever did this really did take a great chance of being seen. The shelter does not just leave the dogs out for hours while sitting inside doing nothing.
If they
were stolen that means someone probably wanted them. Soooooo, that means they are probably being cared for. Soooooooo, move on.
Oooooooorrrr......
Ooooooorrrr......someone wanted 2 free pit bulls for dog fighting. Oh wait - this is Hampton Roads...nothing like that ever happens here.
Maybe
Maybe...but why didn't they adopt them through normal channels? I think I'd check the house of whoever they were taken from.
And the story changes
Interesting... this is almost an entirely different story than reported last night by WVEC. Last night it was a volunteer leaving them totally unattended for 10 minutes. Today staff only left them outside while they were in an out cleaning cages. Yesterday it was the abusive owner hung around waiting to get the animals they had for "months". Today it was suspicious teenagers hanging around the building to steal animals they could get for free in the neighborhood. HUH??? Guess they have so many problems at PHS that they can't even get their story straight.
Call me skeptical ...
This is getting fishy. Did anyone see the report on this story on WVEC? In that story the shelter said it was a volunteer that left the dogs unattended. Now their story is that it was their employees who left the dogs unattended. Whichever is true is still bad and doesn't reflect well on the management. But this constantly changing story doesn't speak well for the shelter or their veracity in this case. What's really going on here?