Rumors of plastic bags being tied to trees as a signal to would-be dog thieves have been circling on social media over the past few months. However, local bylaw enforcement would like to put concerns about organized dog theft to rest.
Enforcement Services Manager Chris Manuel says they have only investigated two reports about stolen dogs this year, neither of which led to any sinister conclusions.
“No information was found at this time to further that investigation. As far as enforcement services is concerned, at this point we have no information to indicate that people tying plastic bags to trees is any indication that their dogs are going to be stolen.”
Manuel says those two reports of stolen dogs were a result of rumors people heard on social media.
“Is somebody tying plastic bags on trees? They probably are. What we’ve found in our research is that this initially started off as a story in 2011 in Australia, and it looks like it has finally found it’s way to the Grande Prairie area.”
He says if anyone does have knowlege pertaining to dog thefts they should contact local enforcement.
