Missing Dog story has odd twist
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007Cricket Hampton is desperately looking for a man in his mid to late 40s who dresses professionally, could lose a few pounds and drives a silver SUV.
She has filed a police report with his description. She has her South Tampa neighbors, her friends and at least 300 concerned strangers on the lookout, too.
Lots of people in her neighborhood know about Hampton’s search. So do thousands of drivers along Bay to Bay Boulevard and various intersecting streets. About two months ago, the artist got an X-acto knife, fired up the Photoshop, made some posters and hung them up all over the neighborhood.
The pictures weren’t of the man.
They were of her dog, a golden retriever she’d had for 11 years.
The man, she thinks, stole him, although police are treating it as a simple case of runaway dog.
Pets are lost every day, and owners typically put up some Xeroxed fliers, buy a newspaper ad or knock on doors before giving up. Not Hampton, whose dog was still missing this week at press time.
This has become a mission for her.
It has been nine weeks. She’s still waiting for her dog to come home.
The search began Jan. 10, just an hour or two after Hampton, a 45-year-old single mother who works as a painter and sculptor, let the dog out to the fenced-in back yard.
Hampton’s 9-year-old son and his friends had left the gate open on the other side of the duplex home. When Hampton called the dog back in around 2:15 p.m., she didn’t come.
Hampton walked to Roosevelt Elementary School to pick up her son, calling the dog and searching the streets on the way. When she arrived, several people told her they had seen the dog standing near the busy intersection of Bay to Bay and Himes Avenue. A few cars had pulled over to help. Then, one man told bystanders he’d take it from there and coaxed the dog into his vehicle. Some described it as an SUV; others thought it was a van.
“I wish I’d thought to get his license plate number,” said Jan Lehtinen, one of the witnesses.
Hampton figured she’d hear from the mystery man after posting fliers up and down Bay to Bay. She didn’t.
She made bigger, more eye-catching signs.
But someone – the mystery man, she suspects – ripped most down or peeled the photos off.
“It’s kind of creeping me out,” she said.
No one can be certain that the pet was dognapped. Tampa police Officer Lisa Parashis said that because the gate was left open and the dog ran away, this is being treated as a lost-dog case rather than a crime.
The dog was not wearing identification tags because the pet had just come from the groomer and still had her grooming collar on, Hampton said. She wasn’t microchipped.
But Hampton wonders how this man could miss the signs posted all over Palma Ceia, including the spot where the dog was taken. She also bought a classified ad in a local newspaper.
A lot of people have seen the posters and ads. Hampton heard from more than 300 callers over the weeks. I found a dog, many have told her, and it looks just like the one you lost. None were Hampton’s dog. And now the calls have stopped coming. But she still has hope.
Hampton’s dognapping theory may not be far-fetched. Suzanne Rider, a coordinator for Golden Retriever Rescue of Mid-Florida, said golden retrievers are often stolen because they are so friendly and will hop in a car with anyone. Thieves might sell them to medical testing labs or use them as bait for fighting pit bulls.
Hampton shudders at the thought. If the golden retriever can’t come back, Hampton hopes the dog can enjoy the mystery man and his home.
“I just wish he had a conscience,” she said.
Hampton imagines her dog, who is terrified of loud noises, shredding the guy’s pillows and digging holes in his carpet every time thunder strikes or fireworks pop. She wants the man to know that the dog slept at her son’s bedside every night and that the family cat, a vocal tabby named Twist, is inconsolable. The dog made the family feel safe, even though a burglar would likely be met with a wagging tail and a cheerful lick.
But there is one thing Hampton doesn’t want the man to know, and it’s the reason a major piece of information has been left out of this story.
“It’s the only thing he doesn’t have,” she said. “He can never call her name.”
SOURCE: SPTimes
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