A woman whose beloved dog was snatched from her back garden by dognappers told how her dog was found tied up in a bag and buried in undergrowth ten minutes from their home.
Nicola Pinner, 51, from Boston, Lincolnshire, said her two-year-old Maltese Mabel was left ‘terrified’ and whimpering after being dumped in an old parasol bag and hidden under dirt and branches down a remote country lane.
The family pet was stolen from Nicola’s back garden on April 27th, and was found three days later when a woman recognised Mabel from social media – but said the dog was so dirty she couldn’t tell what colour her fur was.
Appearing on This Morning today, Nicola said she suspected that her family’s social media campaign to find the dog spooked the criminals who stole Mabel, prompting them to dump her.
Two-year-old Maltese Mabel was snatched from her owner’s back garden in Boston, Lincolnshire late last month
She was left ‘terrified’ and whimpering after being dumped in an old parasol bag and hidden under dirt and branches down a remote country lane
‘We got a phone call from a lady on the Friday morning and she said “I think I have your dog”,’ said Nicola.
‘She couldn’t even say if she was white because she was so dirty and horrible. She’d been put in a bag underneath sticks, buried in undergrowth, she wasn’t meant to be found.’
Cases of what is known as ‘dognapping’ are on the rise, with recent figures from lost and found organisation DogLost showing that thefts surged by 250 per cent in the UK last year.
Nicola described Mabel as ‘very sassy, very loving’ and insisted that the pet means ‘the world’ to her family.
Appearing on This Morning today, she predicted that her family’s social media campaign to find the dog spooked the criminals who took Mabel
‘When we got her, we just absolutely fell in love with her,’ said Nicola, ‘She’s just part of the family. Everything we do, she does.’
Nicola and husband Russell, 55, had been at a friend’s house when dognappers broke into their back garden and swiped their beloved dog.
‘I thought “She’s probably got out of the garden”,’ said Nicola. ‘I ran in looked everywhere and outside and thought: “This is strange”.
‘She may go to a neighbour but it’s rare for Mable and it dawned on us about half an hour later, maybe she’s been stolen. It was terrible, I can’t tell you.’
The family were left in floods of tears when they were reunited with their pet three days after she went missing, but Mabel was left shaken up.
‘The first day she was obviously very tired, she was very dehydrated and slept all the time’, said Nicola. ‘She was very shocked, she wouldn’t do anything or go with anyone. The only ones she would go to was us or our family, she wouldn’t run to the door.’
Nicola told hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield had been at a friend’s house when dognappers broke into their back garden and swiped their beloved dog
She told the family were left in floods of tears when they were reunited with their pet three days after she went missing, but the animal was left shaken up
The family has no idea why their dog was left buried among the bushes, but believe that their multiple social media posts searching for the dog may have scared the criminals into ditching the animal.
‘The only thing we can think of is they were going to go back or they got spooked, or they left her to die.
‘We really don’t know, because it was on social media that could have been a reason they could have got scared and thought “We’ll just dump her”. We don’t know.’
Nicola is pushing for tougher laws for those who steal dogs, comparing the loss of a pet dog to a child being stolen.
‘I’ve had a lot of messages from people saying that if it was their dog, that’s all they have to live for’, said Nicola. ‘This is their family, it’s like a child to them, so this needs to be taken very seriously.’