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Pet owners concerned by dog disappearances
They don't think it's a coincidence.
Barbara Goldberg and Donna Pettie both live in the Viewtown/Amissville area of Rappahnnock County. Over the past six to 12 months, the neighbors say four of their pet dogs have vanished without a trace and all attempts to find them have been fruitless.
Goldberg said three of her dogs — which are all neutered and spayed — have disappeared within the last six months. Two of them vanished together.
"It happened on the same day, at the same time, in broad daylight," Goldberg said. "My neighbor saw them running through his yard to a field, and they haven't been seen since."
The beagle and Scottish terrier both had microchips, collars and tags, so they were clearly recognizable as someone's pets, Goldberg said.
To make matters worse, her cattle dog, Wallace, also disappeared.
"We were in Germany, and our sons were watching the house. They said Wallace just ran off one day and never came back."
Goldberg said she is now at the point where she is "a little concerned." She thinks some type of predator may have taken the dogs, since they were all smaller breeds. But then again, she said she hasn't seen any predators on the property.
"I haven't seen any buzzards either," Goldberg added, nothing that the scavengers would be attracted to any small animal scraps left behind by predators.
Like Goldberg, Pettie says her dog, Dutch, simply wandered off. That happened about a year ago, and there's never been any trace of the neutered, mixed-breed dog.
"We had a bad storm, and he just up and disappeared in broad daylight," Pettie said. "It happened sometime between 10 a.m. and noon. We had everyone out looking for him, but we never did find him."
Dutch weighed approximately 30 pounds and was "timid," according to his owner. He was a lap dog who had never been away from the family overnight prior to his disappearance. The Petties had him for more than six years.
"There's something more going on here than just a coyote [or some other predator] going after these dogs," Pettie said.
Fearing that someone was somehow targeting small dogs in the area, Pettie said she reported Dutch's disappearance to the police in Rappahannock, Fauquier and Culpeper counties.
She said she also visited area animal shelters in hopes of finding Dutch, to no avail.
Now she is growing increasingly concerned.
See the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story...
I don't understand why people let their animals run loose and are then surprised when they disappear, especially if one has already disappeared. Keep your dogs under your control at all times and you won't lose them.
Posted by zyggistardust
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