Expensive puppies stolen; thief cut in the process

By DALE QUINN
Arizona Daily Star
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Tucson police are investigating a dognapping after someone squeezed through an air-conditioning duct and stole four pricey puppies from a pet store.

A small thief broke into Petland Tuesday, stealing the puppies, worth a total of about $9,000, and leaving behind a trail of blood, employees said.

The thief tripped the alarm while breaking into the store from the roof, and police were notified, said Kim Romic, a manager of the store.

The stolen puppies, two yellow Labradors, a German shepherd and a French mastiff, were between 9 and 13 weeks old, she said.

Officer Dallas Wilson, a Tucson Police Department spokesman, said the store's alarm went off about 3:40 a.m. Police had no suspects.

The thief was likely a small adult or a child, Romic said, because the duct is too narrow for a full-grown person to fit through.

The perpetrator suffered a cut while breaking into the store and left a trail of blood -- some of which police collected as evidence, Romic said. The thief or thieves then broke the glass that kept the dogs in their kennels.

The dogs' fate worries store managers.

"We're more concerned with the well-being of the puppies," Romic said. "We don't care about the damage (to the store). We just want to make sure the puppies are safe."

Another manager, Barbara Krysko, said the burglar who got into the store likely opened the front door to allow accomplices in to help take the dogs.

The ordeal must have been terrifying for the young animals. Krysko said that when she arrived, shattered glass littered the store's floor, and three puppies that hadn't been taken were running around frightened.

Luckily, she said, those puppies weren't cut by the broken glass. The employees asked the public to keep an eye out for anybody selling large-breed dogs, specifically like those stolen from the store.

Contact Dale Quinn at dquinn(at)azstarnet.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com