Late last night, an unidentified man broke into an Atlanta animal shelter and stole three dogs.
At the time of writing, officials have no leads on the whereabouts of either the thief or the dogs stolen from PAWS Atlanta.
Gone Without a Trace
According to an Instagram post made by PAWS Atlanta, a man broke into the shelter at 1:30 a.m. He attempted to steal five dogs from their kennels but dropped two in his escape. He did, however, successfully steal three: Pit Bull puppy sisters, Violet and Emilia, and Princeton, a Yorkie.
Violet
Emilia
Princeton
Just a few weeks ago, Violet and Emilia were abandoned in the shelter’s parking lot “sick, scared, and undernourished.” PAWS Atlanta wrote, “A great deal of love and care has gone into helping them grow and thrive for their future forever home.”
The thought of these puppies being placed into another poor situation having already escaped one is heartbreaking.
Princeton had been surrendered by his owner and was sadly already promised to someone before his theft. He was simply awaiting official adoption.
“I’ve been here 15 years and this is something I never thought it would happen,” shelter manager Laura McKelvey told FOX 5.
Not a Standalone Incident
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first shelter break-in we’ve seen in the past month. In late August, a man released over 150 dogs from a Texas shelter. In relation to these recent events, dognapping is also on the rise. It’s possible that more safety measures need to be taken at shelters across the country. It’s hard to say exactly what those measures would look like or how they would be implemented uniformly, but it’s clear that there is a necessity for better security to protect these vulnerable pups.
If you have any leads about the missing Atlanta dogs, please reach out the Dekalb County police. Additionally, these dogs may be placed in ads on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and Nextdoor. If you live in the area, keep an eye out for these three pups on these ad sites.
