Kidnapped in Toulouse in May, the husky dog Zak was found in Narbonne
The disappearance of this dog, stolen from the land of its Toulouse owner last May, caused a stir on the web. He was finally found in Narbonne thanks to the vigilance of the municipal police. His master came to pick him up this Wednesday morning.
It is an incredible and moving story. Last May, Johan, a 32-year-old from Toulouse, had his husky dog stolen from his garden, while the animal was locked in an enclosure. Neighbors tell him that someone has come to his house to kidnap the dog. Rumors even say that Zak was sold to a homeless man for a hundred euros.
Solidarity on the web
Distraught, Johan pulls out all the stops to find his four-legged friend. He travels for miles looking for her in Toulouse. A message is posted on the “Pet alert” platform and a friend is in charge of launching an online petition on “my opinions.com” in an attempt to obtain information. The petition collects nearly 20,000 signatures and thousands of Internet users quickly support Johan, who immediately decides to file a complaint.
The husky dog was first seen in Montpellier, emaciated and with damaged paws, in the company of a man begging. His presence is then reported again in the pink city, then no trace.
It was finally in Narbonne that the dog was found this week. “A municipal police officer in charge of monitoring the images of the CCTV cameras saw a dog that looked like Zak and in the presence of a homeless person”, explains Dany Porcia, coordinator of Arpan (Au Refuge et Pension des Animaux du Narbonnais). “The chip reader made it possible to verify that it was indeed Zak. The homeless person was heard and the dog was sent to us. He is fine. He is a little thinner, but it is not catastrophic” .
If the dog had not been chipped, “he would have been well and truly lost”
This Wednesday morning, Johan came to pick up his animal at the shelter to bring him home. A moving reunion attended by the Arpan teams. “After a few seconds of floating for a while, the dog didn’t really know, he recognized his master and celebrated him… A beautiful story that does us good in this period of animal abandonment”.
Dany Porcia insists on the importance of animal identification. “Zak had already escaped before and ended up in the pound in Toulouse. He was not chipped and fortunately the pound identified him. That’s what made it possible to say that he was was acting Zak. Otherwise, he would have been well and truly lost.”