Following a story on social media about a dog being stolen in Swindon and later found dead in a plastic bag having been used as a bait dog, North Swindon Police have issued the following statement.
“Recently a very disturbing story has been circulating on Facebook about a dog being stolen from a garden in Swindon. The person who posted it appeared to claim that a white Staffordshire Bull Terrier was snatched, used as a bait by a dog fighting gang and then later found dead in a black plastic bag. They also claimed that Wiltshire Police were investigating.
We can confirm that no such case has been reported to Wiltshire Police, we have not been made aware of the theft of any staffy dogs and certainly have not found any dead animals in these circumstances. We firmly believe this is a hoax which is designed to gain the writer attention, and cause alarm and upset to dog owners and animal lovers.
These sort of stories do surface on social media on a fairly regular basis and it is always worth treating them with an healthy amount of scepticism. Please be assured that if there were any cases like this we would issue alerts to pet owners via this page and the media to enable them to take suitable precautions.”
A spokesperson for DogLost said: “It is very rare for a dog to be stolen for dog baiting purposes and we would urge people to treat these stories with extreme caution.”
