An Ontario-based animal rescue has a simple message for the person who allegedly took a seven-year-old Shih Tzu mix dog during an attempted handoff between volunteers: return Toby.
TEAM Dog Rescue said the dog was being driven to Toronto from Belleville by a volunteer from Critter Cabs, a volunteer organization that provides transportation services for animals that need to be taken between different facilities and groups, on Saturday.
The Critter Cabs volunteer was supposed to hand off Toby to a TEAM Dog Rescue volunteer at the Kennedy Commons Tim Hortons near Kennedy Road and Highway 401 — something that happens on a regular basis.
Larysa Struk, a director with TEAM Dog Rescue, told Global News a younger woman — who was last seen wearing a blue, long maxi dress and a pink sweater, and was in the company of an older woman — approached the volunteer at around 8:15 p.m.
“The woman approached quite confidently and basically impersonated a volunteer … nothing like this has ever happened in the hundreds of transports that have happened over three years,” she said, adding the women reportedly spoke in another language and were driving a dark-coloured Hyundai SUV.
Get daily National news
“At first we thought it might have been a mistake. Maybe it was another rescue group in the area? Maybe they thought it was their dog mistakenly? We were trying to make the best of it.
“The fact that someone had so much confidence and knew to do it this way. No one knows… we can’t find a connection.”
Struk said she others don’t know what prompted the woman to do this. But she said she and others have mobilized to try to find Toby, who was supposed to undergo medical testing after being rescued.
“He needs medical attention. He’s a senior at this point. He needs a whole bunch of stuff done,” Struck said.
“We don’t want to give up, especially this early on.”
She said volunteers are actively canvassing the area for surveillance video as well as checking various website to see if Toby has been listed for sale.
“Shih Tzus are a very desirable breed … Their breed is known as a companion animal,” Struck said.
“If someone wanted to make some money, they could easily turn him around on Kijiji, on Craigslist. We’ve scoured all of those sites and continue to do so.”
She said a report was filed with Toronto police over the weekend. A police spokesperson told Global News the service recently received a report about the incident. However, he said he was unable to provide an update because the report hasn’t been reviewed by investigators.
Meanwhile, Struk said Saturday’s incident has forced organizations and volunteers to re-evaluate how they go about transporting rescued animals.
“We are volunteers. No one is getting paid to do any of this … This is something people are very passionate and emotional about. So to have something like this happen and then realize the trust factor is kind of gone now,” she said.
“It’s not that we were walking around with rose-coloured glasses — none of us were. We see the worst in people because we’re pulling these animals who have suffered. But you don’t expect this to play out the way it did. No one saw this coming.”
A $3,500 reward has been offered for the safe return of Toby and volunteers are sharing updates using the hashtag #ReturnToby. Anyone with information is asked to contact TEAM Dog Rescue, police, or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
Comments