Thieves pull canine capers at animal control

Larry Hobbs, The Brunswick News, Ga.
·4 min read

May 26—Dog rustlers have struck twice in the past week at Glynn County Animal Control on U.S. 17, breaching the animal shelter's security fences during the dark hours and absconding with a total of four pooches, according to animal control officials and county police reports.

Security video at the aging animal control building captured the suspects in both canine capers, say county police and animal control officials.

The two thefts do not appear to be related. Police are investigating.

During the midnight hour of May 19, a man with an accomplice allegedly wedged his way through a gap in the front gate "and walked toward the rear of the complex on the southside," police reported. The suspect returned moments later with "a puppy .... on a leash," the report stated.

He signaled an awaiting driver with a flashlight. Then he slid back out of the gate, stepped inside the vehicle with the puppy "and the vehicle fled the scene," police reported.

Some time before sunup Monday, someone slipped inside the animal shelter and escaped with three large pit bull mixes, police and animal control officials reported.

A veteran in the animal care field, Glynn County Animal Control Manager Tiffany Hill said animal thefts from a governmental animal control shelter are unusual, to say the least.

"It's very rare, especially this," Hill said. "To have two separate incidents in less than a week. That is mind-blowing. It's very strange, for sure."

In addition to having them on camera, the suspects in both incidents are known to Hill and other animal control officers, she said. Like most burglaries, whether it is pilfered jewelry or purloined pooches, the motive is greed, Hill said.

One of the three suspects in the heist of the of three pit bull mixes has made himself heard by staff at the shelter, bluntly sharing his objections to neutering and spaying, Hill said. He made no bones about his desire to breed dogs for money, she said.

All adopted dogs from the county shelter are neutered or spayed before put up for public adoption.

The staff's interactions with the suspect "haven't been pleasant," she said.

"We highly suspect that the three dogs stolen (Monday) were stolen for breeding purposes," Hill said. "One of the three people who came onto the property (Monday) morning around 4 a.m. was very specific about the fact that he does not spay or neuter because he makes money on the puppies."

The Catahoula pup stolen last week was a different circumstance, she said.

The Catahoula pup, another dog and three cats were found after firefighters extinguished a house fire recently on Copeland Road, Hill said. No one was home at the time of the fire, which was extinguished by county firefighters, she said.

Animal control officers took the dogs and the cats to the shelter for safekeeping, Hill said.

All incoming dogs are dewormed and vaccinated for their safety and that of all animals inside the shelter, Hill said. Hill said the owners did not wish to pay the release fee, which helps offset the costs of holding an animal.

Hill offered to let the owner wait until the seven-day hold is up then retrieve their pets through the adoption process. Adoption presently is discounted to $25. She suspects the owner did not want the dog spayed or neutered.

"We know they lost a lot (in the fire) so we gave him the option of waiting a couple of days and paying $25 for the adoption," Hill said. "However, we suspect he would not like his dogs fixed by us, which is a requirement for adoption here."

Hill said he returned and allegedly stole the puppy in the dark of night.

"Unfortunately, our facility is not very secure," she said. "So it's not too challenging for someone to enter the property after hours."

Hill hopes to see arrests soon. She says the suspects compromised the county animal shelter and endangered the welfare of staff and of the animals entrusted to their care.

"They committed burglary and they will be arrested and prosecuted,' she said. "This should be taken seriously for multiple reasons. One reason is the safety of the animals and the staff. Another reason is we have animals here under our daily care, many of them needing medical care. Also, they (were) stolen from taxpayers because taxpayers pay for the facility and our budget."

By late summer, animal control will be operating out of a new facility twice as big as the present building. Located in the cul de sac of Public Safety Boulevard, its built-in security system includes being neighbors with the Glynn County Police Department, the county fire-rescue department headquarters and the Georgia State Patrol post.

"They're going to have to go past the police and other public safety buildings to try something like this again," Hill said.

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