MOLE265 792 Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 (edited) 'I started to get this gut feeling she had been taken': Family left heartbroken after pet cocker spaniel 'stolen' on walk CCTV footage shows a white van pulling up next to the family's car and scooping something up from the ground before driving away NEWS 'I started to get this gut feeling she had been taken': Family left heartbroken after pet cocker spaniel 'stolen' on walk CCTV footage shows a white van pulling up next to the family's car and scooping something up from the ground before driving away A Redhill family has been left heartbroken after their pet puppy vanished while they were taking it for a walk - with CCTV footage showing that it appears to have been stolen. The 14-week-old cocker spaniel, Mika, was being walked by owner Caroline Culverwell in fields near The Dog and Duck in Outwood between 12.30pm and 1.30pm on Sunday (August 20) before having lunch with her parents As the three of them had almost reached the pub Mika ran off into the car park, on Prince of Wales Road, and they lost sight of her. High-value canines targeted by thieves "Mika is quite happy being off the lead and she comes back when she is called, but on this occasion she must have seen or smelt that we were heading back, recognised this and run through the kissing gate into the pub car park," Mrs Culverwell, 46, said. "We lost sight of her as she turned a corner but we couldn't have been more than 100 yards and a couple of seconds behind her so we called for her, but she didn't come back. "My immediate reaction was that she must have run into the woods, but when we kept calling and calling for about 10 minutes we thought it was very unusual that she didn't respond. "Cocker spaniels are often referred to as shadows - they never like to stray from their owner - and Mika is no different, so I started to get this gut feeling that she had been taken." The mother-of-three said that within 30 minutes a group of around 12 people including pub customers and staff were out looking for Mika in the area around the car park and continued to search for her until nightfall. Mrs Culverwell and her husband Marcus, who is the head teacher at Reigate St Mary's School, were preparing to camp in their car in the car park for the night when a member of the pub's staff approached the couple with CCTV footage. "From the CCTV, what happens seems to be an opportunistic crime - a white vehicle is seen to pull into the car park and two men can be seen getting out," she explained. "They are seen to pull up near to our car, lean down to the floor, scoop something up - which could only be Mika - and put it into the vehicle before driving away. "It all happened so quickly." Edited August 23, 2017 by MOLE265 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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