There has been a spate of dog thefts recently around the Edinburgh area.

It is thought this is for dog fight baiting.

Just at the weekend our dog groomer was followed by a white van with a female driver and male passenger. They passed her slowly 3 times before the male tried to get out the van. He was scared off when other people came in to sight and our groomer got her phone out.

Seemingly there have been dogs going missing around the Eskbank, Dalkeith area as well as Cramond, Crewe Toll and Gypsy Brae.

Everyone please be careful.

Such sick people in this world! What enjoyment do people get put of dogs fighting and killing each other.......let alone stealing someone's family pet! Wish if people like that are caught they get jailed and the key thrown away but it never happens really feel we should have harsher punishment for animal crimes!

Please dont scaremonger. Edinburgh is way down on the list of hotspots for stolen dogs. You're right that recently there has been a spate of dogs going missing and yes, a few of those are believed to have possibly been stolen, but there seems to be a white van crawling slowly along the road waiting to steal dogs in every major town and city at the moment.....if you take every post on Facebook as gospel. One dog has gone missing from Cramond/Crewe Toll/Gypsy Brae area - Bailey the cocker spaniel. The most recent losts dogs are Candy from Leith + 2 black labs, and Pogo from Meadowbank. This is very unusual and most dogs that go missing from Edinburgh are usually found safe and well. It hasn't been a problem that we have suffered from until recently, but still comparatively mild compared to some areas of the UK.

Most dogs that are being stolen in the UK as a whole tend to be the working type at the moment along with small terriers and are believed to be stolen to order, and not for bait dogs.

Dog theft is a nationwide problem that is spiralling out of control. Don't leave your dogs unattended, get them chipped if not already, and get them neutered to make them less desirable for people that steal to breed.

Please be aware that I am not scaremongering - this is someone I know and trust (she's our dog groomer) who was terrified by this.

Ok, Edinburgh may be down on the list, however I am only highlighting this issue and asking people to be vigilant Thats all.

I wouldnt like to see someone posting that their dog has gone missing if I hadnt highlighted this.

There have been dogs being stolen near me in kent too, it seems to be happening everywhere, there were a few stories on our local news advising people to be on the look out and about stickers being used to colour code houses where dogs were, one person was arrested but i cant seem to find out whether they were charged or not...
i dont think youre scaremongering at all

I am grateful you posted because I'm certainly going to be much more aware of anything suspicious from now on. Those areas are pretty spread out so even more reason for as many people to know about this as possible. Thankyou.

This has been happening around England as well! Sickening people

Never leave your dog unattended in the garden or tied up outside a shop and try not to leave it in the car - even if you are just nipping into a shop.
A colleague's staff was taken from the grounds where we worked and we wondered whether it had been taken for dog fights (Bradford district). I put posters up in all the roughest areas! Eventually we were contacted by someone who claimed they had bought it in a pub and they wanted her to pay what they had paid. Yeah right. Eventually a much lower price was agreed and the dog was handed over on a petrol station forecourt. Talk about a bunch of numpties. We had the CCTV evidence of the handover! But I don't think the colleague pursued it.

Further to the earlier post, police have warned dog owners in Fife to be vigilant about this right now too - marks are being put on gates so the thieves know which homes to target. I'm not scaremongering, just passing on police advice from my local area.
Last edited by andmoreagain : 05-03-2013 at 20:43

Just to add, there has always been dog thefts. Our dog was stolen from our house back in the 80s, and that was just one of many, so it's not a new thing and probably not worthy of particular worry. People just need to be so careful with their pets these days

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/dogstickers.asp

There has been a spate of this in Kent as well. Rather disturbingly, the local BBC news has linked it to the lessening crimes reported in thefts of lead - now that dealers have to report who they buy from. Sadly - it seems that organised crime has moved on to different victims.

After a bunch of people posted a registration number plate on Facebook the last few days, Cleveland police issued this statement

Rumours Circulating Around Dog Thefts in East Cleveland

A number of concerns have been made from members of the public around dog thefts in the East Cleveland area linked to a white van with an R plate registration number. Posters have been circulating on social networking sites, on local group forums and in shop windows with this registration number on.

Officers believe that this poster is also circulating across other areas of the country stating that a van with the same registration is also actively stealing dogs in those areas.

Police can confirm that there has been no evidence of dogs being stolen in the area using a van with this registration number and we would urge people to refrain from circulating rumours of this nature. We also have no information at this stage to suggest a gang is stealing dogs in Cleveland.

There are also rumours circulating of stickers being placed on fences and houses where dogs are present and we can confirm we have no reports of this happening in the Cleveland area. It is believed to be a web hoax originating from Australia that has been circulated over the internet.

A small number of reports of suspicious activity have been made to police involving white vans. These are said to have been suspiciously passing dog owners in East Cleveland and being in the vicinity of people walking their dogs, however these concerns may have been heightened due to the speculation.

Officers continue to remind people to take a common sense approach but those wishing to report any incident are urged to do so using the non-emergency 101 number or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

https://www.facebook.com/clevelandpo...51453297906855

A local animal sanctuary where I work part time had a lot of animals stolen a few years back, cats, dogs, goats and even guinea pigs were stolen after several breakins during the night.

North Yorkshire Police have issued a similar statement today actually, being vigilant is one thing, but scaremongering is completely unnecessary.

I for one am going to carry on as i normally do. i.e. being sensible and if i do have to leave my dog unattended while out, he is always placed within my plain view and/or under a security camera.

The marks on gates thing is doing the rounds on fb. To be honest I usually step in and post a snopes link on chain statuses but anything that encourages owners to be a little more careful isn't a bad thing.

I'm involved in lurcher rescue and the gumtree 'Free to a good home' dogs are targetted by those looking for bait dogs. I know of a dog being stolen from a car in Peebles recently.