Dog Fighting Fears Grow in Northern BC

Chocco (Brad Tanner)

For more than a year, dog owners in Northern B.C. have been voicing their fears about stolen dogs.

Panic is spreading throughout the area with on-going rumours of dog fighting and the reported disappearance of over 120 dogs in the Fort St. John area in the past 12 months.

Owners fear that dogs are being stolen to fight as well as be used as bait dogs.

While some animals have been found dead or injured with injuries consistent with dog fighting, it has been difficult to come up with more evidence. This, coupled with limited resources for the RCMP and SPCA in this rural area, has made following up on dog owners’ fears a real challenge.

Over 2,000 people have signed a petition demanding the province give the SPCA and RCMP more resources to investigate.

Brad Tanner, a breeder from the Cecil Lake area in Northern BC, started the Sea of Green program and Stolen Dogs 911 on Facebook to address the missing dog issue after his dog, Chocco, was stolen and later found shot.

Tanner says the Sea of Green program is “a program for the pet owners, by the pet owners,” that addresses the gap in guidance and services when searching for a missing pet.

“The gaps have been identified and the solution is for us to unite as pet owners to help protect and recover each others’ four legged family members. To show the industry what it is that we are wanting and needing,” Tanner told InfoStream. “In turn, we will relieve the burden on all these other organizations that aren't able to cope and handle the extreme demand that is ravaging across this nation.”

“The ‘Sea of Green’ has two main components: A dedicated network of pet lovers and a single centralised pet registry (PetLynx) and one social media point. The goal is to integrate community and technology together enabling each and every household to monitor and locate their beloved pet with merely a few touches of a button,” explains Tanner.

Tanner was the recipient of the 2015 Pet Owner Summit Award for his efforts to raise awareness about dog theft in B.C. and Alberta.

Protecting Pets From Theft: Brad Tanner's 'Sea of Green' Vision

Brad Tanner, the owner of Chocco the Chesapeake Bay Retriever that was stolen and shot is using his own pet tragedy as inspiration and motivation to share with pet lovers the vision that he believes will protect pets from theft. A united pet community, using one social media tool, making pets visibly identifiable and registered in one single database.

Pets registered in the HomeSafe Program will be visibly identifiable by the green tag they wear on their collar. This tag will alert thieves that this particular animal is protected by the HomeSafe community. Essentially the message will be “don’t touch a pet with a green tag because it’s not worth the risk” - if a pet with a green tag goes missing, with a touch of a button we will mobilize a community of hundreds of thousands of active pet owners and lovers who are watching for suspicious activity, monitoring websites for stolen animals, taking pictures and alerting neighbours, shelters, municipalities and authorities if they notice anything out of the ordinary.

As the Health and Safety Manager for Cleanharbors Energy & Production Services, Brad knows the value of having a set protocol to follow in an emergency situation. So when Chocco went missing, he immediately realized there was a lack of protocol, support and resources for pet owners in that situation.

When Chocco was stolen Brad could not find an obvious first step, there were too many rescue groups to contact effectively, Shelters, Animal Control, and Vet Clinics were not helpful after hours and legislation does not exist to help in the case of a stolen dog.

Brad recognized the need for a more organized approach but found that local governmental borders, boundaries and jurisdictions got in the way of providing for all pet lovers equally. He realized the solution was for pet lovers to take control and help each other. A program by the pet lovers, for the pet lovers.

He envisions a community where every dog is safe; a place where community members do not live in fear of their furry family members being stolen. He imagines a network of organized pet lovers collaborating on long-term and sustainable solutions to protect pets, people and communities all across the nation.

The Sea of Green Community vision has all pets wearing a green tag and all homes sporting a green and white window sign. In Brad’s own words, "Your pet will be visibly identified with a numbered Green Tag. In your windows and at the end of your driveways, as you enter your community, you will see a green and white sign that says this is a pet safe community.  This will inform those people of ill intent, that each and every pet within this area will get the highest level of concentrated and organized efforts and media exposure to find and return that loved pet to it’s home in a timely fashion. The sea of green will represent protection, unification and identification of pet owners far and wide. It will push pet thieves out of our communities and relieve the burden on local SPCA's, bylaw and law enforcement.”

Implementation of the Sea of Green Vision (SGC) begins with an organized community meeting entitled “Enuff is Enuff” where Brad talks about his experience, vision, and encourages conversations. Next, from those attendees a local committee will be struck to identify gaps in the pet services and determine what is required to ensure their own pet community is wholly safe, happy and healthy. Finally, the committee will work to create awareness, distribute material, get pets identified and registered in a central database, manage local social media and develop protocols for how to proceed in the case of a stolen, missing or found pet.

The first Enuff is Enuff meeting was held in a trendy local coffee shop in Fort St. John, B.C., on April 09, 2015.  Brad spoke to a highly motivated and passionate group of pet lovers about the need to come together, get organized and be proactive in protecting our pets from becoming separated from their families.

SEE NEWS REPORT ABOUT THE EVENT HERE

Chocco Found Dead

Chocco sleeping 

Late last week, the missing Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Chocco was was found 8 kilometers from his home, buried deep in a snowbank, having been shot in the back of the neck. 

The situation suggests Chocco was killed in a different location and his body relocated to this spot. 

Brad Tanner, Chocco’s owner believes the person/people responsible intended on the dog being found decomposed in the spring thaw so it appeared he simply wandered away and was hit by a car. Other episodes in communities both nearby and far away, seem to suggest this is not an isolated incident.

Chocco’s death will not be in vain. As Brad looked for Chocco he enlisted the assistance of PetLynx and Anna MacNeil-Allcock. Anna became interested to know how often these kinds of episodes occurred. Anna created a personal Facebook page called Stolen Dogs 911. This Facebook page has illuminated a situation that may be occurring more frequently in communities across North America than first was thought. In the next few weeks, PetLynx will be meeting with bylaw officers in the Fort St. John area to imagine how communities can reduce or eliminate the problem of stolen dogs.

Is a Dog Theft Ring Operating in Western Canada?

The Anecdotal evidence suggests that something very organized is going on. Clusters of lost dog reports seem to indicate dogs are not just wandering away from their homes:

• Dogs missing from the Fort St. John
• Dogs removed from locked homes
• 20 Dogs Missing
• 50 Dogs Vanished
• Dogs go missing in Edmonton
• Are missing dogs supplying Dog Fighting rings?

Anna MacNeil-Allcock of PetLynx Corporation, has begun gathering stories on a Facebook page called Stolen Dogs 911 and is working with Fort St John to understand how the HomeSafe(tm) program can help theft proof animals in this northern community. 

Where is Brad Tanner's Chesapeake Bay Retriever?

Dogs are vanishing from an area outside Fort St. John. On Saturday February 21, 2015, worried owners went door to door searching for their pets. As they searched they encountered details suggesting their much loved companions were brazenly stolen.

Chocco safe at home

Brad Tanner’s Chesapeake Bay Retriever named Chocco was one of the dogs taken. Brad took immediate action by filing a report with the RCMP and contacting local media. Online he noticed media articles about stolen dogs and one revealed an incident of theft a month earlier in the nearby town of Dawson Creek. In fact, media reports seem to show clusters of dogs have vanished in an organized fashion from locations in BC, Alberta, and Manitoba, during the past 4 years.

Some anecdotal evidence suggests at least one woman and two men may be involved. A woman in a light coloured SUV was seen driving slowly by properties and/or approaching and coaxing dogs toward her vehicle. Often within hours of this episode men in different vehicles were observed trying to entice dogs with treats. Dogs have been taken out of homes, out of cars, off leads and out of electrically fenced areas. In one online report an owner described how he found bits of dog treats on his property and his dog gone despite having an electric fence system the dog would not breach.

Brad says his hopes to see his dog Chocco again wane with every passing day. Brad is adamant he will not give up the search for the sake of all dogs who may suffer the same fate as Chocco. Brad recognizes that if these people aren't stopped, dogs will continue to go missing.

Anna MacNeil-Allcock of PetLynx Corporation is leading a global effort to gather eye witness accounts of detailed information about suspicious activity. "Thieves need to know that Fort. St. John is no longer a harvesting ground for criminal purposes”, she said.

Anna, coordinates the PetLynx HomeSafe™ RTO Service to create safe environments for people and pets across Canada. HomeSafe(tm) allows communities in North America to offer a 24/7 Return to Owner (RTO) service that ensures all dogs are registered with physical descriptions, identification devices and photos just like ChildFind Canada. By getting organized and by collaborating across provinces, it will be possible those responsible for stealing these valuable family members can be exposed.

"The fact that Fort St. John has illuminated this problem for the rest of the world is significant", said Larry Evans, Managing Director, PetLynx Corporation. The lessons learned from this episode can become a municipal model that can be replicated across North America. Anna is one of the most passionate people I know when it comes to missing pets.

Anna has created a Facebook Page Stolen Dogs 911. Pet owners and the general public can be helpful to collect data so the size and significant elements of this problem are understood. Here is what can you do:

• First, if you believe your dog has been stolen, you need to report your missing dog to the local police detachment.
• Second, get your dog identified, photographed and registered in the HomeSafe™ Automated RTO database to improve the chances of recovery. This system has two major benefits in the case of stolen dogs. First, in minutes you can quickly create and widely distribute a Lost Report and print a Lost Dog Poster AND it has a search engine that never gives up searching for a match in the found reports and admission records of registered agencies of your community. 
• Third, familiarize yourself with the Facebook page and enter any information you may be aware of so the statistics are gathered and a collaboration to reduce or eliminate this problem begins.

A missing dog episode is one of the most emotional experiences facing pet owners today. Fortunately technology can now be employed to eliminate stolen dogs and report these episodes.