DETROIT (WWJ) — Four rescue dogs that were stolen early Wednesday morning from Make A Difference Rescue on Detroit’s east side have been returned safely — but now the hunt is on to find those responsible.
The shelter’s owner, Judie Jones, posted an update to social media on Wednesday (Jan. 11) evening stating four of their dogs, Willow, Jaxon, Holly and Titus, were found safe and are back at the shelter after the break-in the day before.
Jones said the thieves appeared to break and enter through a window on Tuesday night and were caught on shelter surveillance video sifting through papers and using their phones to record the dogs in the kennels.
"It was strange. They came in, they kind of surveilled everything like they were taking videos of all the exits and all the dogs inside," Jones told WXYZ.
She fears the thieves planned the break-in and had already determined which dogs they were going to take -- and may be back to steal more.
"They are my heart and soul," Ashely Swistak, who works for the nonprofit dog rescue Make A Difference Rescue, told WXYZ of the animals.
When the rescue's four dogs came up missing in the incident, volunteers went around Wednesday to put up flyers with the dogs' photos and offered a reward for their safe return.
A concerned construction worker, Terrance Leavell, saw the flyers the same afternoon and recognized a dog he had seen as one of those missing from the rescue. In an attempt get the dog safely back, he flagged down a WXYZ news truck and alerted reporter Kimberly Craig and photojournalist Matt Dale.
Leavell was able to show them an abandoned garage with Willow sitting scared inside. She was safely picked up and returned to the shelter. The other dogs were recovered by Thursday night.
Jones said she is puzzled why the animals were stolen in the first place, as all their dogs are spayed and neutered, but she worries they may have been taken as bait for dogfighting operations.
"Whatever their reasons, you don't break into a rescue and take a dog because you love animals," she stated.
Jones started a fundraiser to help cover the cost of a new security measures at the facility, as well as to replace food that the thieves had also allegedly stolen.
"We need food and the bins replaced and the window fixed and we will keep you posted as to what else is missing and/or damaged," the organization wrote on Facebook.
Please donate to makeadifferencerescue.com/donate.
The incident remains under investigation with the Detroit Police Department.