By Nigel Maxwell

A “dog–gone” mystery

Mar 14, 2011 | 12:22 PM

Dozens of dogs have gone missing in the Prince Albert area over the last several months.

Samantha Johnston has created a Facebook group, Missing animals from Prince Albert and area.

The group now has over 300 members.

“What we are trying to do with the group is put all the clues together, so that we have a crime triangle of where all the animals are going missing from. And it's not just PA anymore. What we are finding is that it is going out to acreages outside town,” said Johnston.

Some owners say their dogs have been stolen and are being re-sold.

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Johnston said some of the stories are quite disturbing.

“There (are) so many people that have witnessed people snooping around their yards or witnessed people trying to feed their dogs.”

The Prince Albert RCMP detachment is investigating a complaint in the Birch Hills area, but since the complaint was filed last fall, they have not received any more.

Sgt. Jon Mansbridge said there is no need for further investigation at this time.

“There is not much we can do with rumor or speculation. It is just not feasible to investigate,” he said.

Meanwhile the Manager of the Prince Albert has another theory about where the dogs may be going.

Debbie Lehner said some people are simply finding the dogs and claiming them as their own.

“We had a young fellow bring a dog in he found a month ago, but never reported it to us. In that case someone could have been looking for that dog,” said Lehner.

She said if anyone finds a lost dog, they should contact the SPCA right away. Lehner also said these incidents stress the importance of having your dog microchipped.

“When a dog is microchipped and they are lost anywhere in Canada, United States, worldwide, every veterinarian clinic, every humane society has a scanner for micro chipping. We can scan those dogs.

It brings up the number. We contact the microchip place and they give us a name.”

Lehner said microchipping is slowly catching on in Prince Albert and every dog leaving the shelter is microchipped.

She said it is strange that so many dogs have gone missing and not one has show up at the shelter.

“We would just really encourage people, if they are putting their dogs out and not supervising them outside, that they put padlocks on their gates, because it only takes a second. Someone opens up that gate and the dogs are gone.”

nmaxwell@rawlco.com