This case involving the three Labrador crossbreeds is a “never-ending story,” says Gerd Schmidt on the phone, and it’s not hard to imagine him shaking his head. The trio of dogs has been keeping the police, authorities and animal shelters busy for almost a year – although the poorly behaved animals aren’t the problem, says the director of the Neuburg animal shelter. It’s their owner.
The 40-year-old is believed to have smuggled the dogs out of an animal shelter where they were housed by the public order office because of their aggressive behavior for the third time. As the Neuburg police station confirmed upon request, they are investigating the man from the Augsburg district for custody and trespassing. He cannot currently be found.
The suspect is said to have illegally gained access to the fenced-off outdoor enclosure last Saturday afternoon and taken the three dogs with him. “A ladder was still hanging on the fence,” says Schmidt. “The burglar was lucky that our livestock guardian dog was somewhere else at the time, otherwise he would have grabbed him.”
The black mixed breed dogs were first housed in a Swabian animal shelter by the municipality of Dinkelscherben last October. Before that, they had killed chickens and even bitten people. Residents were afraid of encountering the stray dogs on the street.
But the animals were soon back in town, killing chickens again. The owner must have “illegally acquired” them, the authorities said at the time, but they were unable to prove it. They took the dogs further away to the Neuburg animal shelter, which also copes well with problem cases. But even Gerd Schmidt had never experienced a case like this, “and I’ve been doing this for 35 years.”
One night in May, the dogs disappeared from the animal shelter. They were found again in Dinkelscherben. In Neuburg, they upgraded, installed cameras and tightened nighttime security measures. Another attempted break-in failed. The fact that the perpetrator broke into the remote outdoor enclosure on the edge of the forest during the day of all times leaves Schmidt stunned. “He must have been spying on us for days because he knew exactly where the dogs were.”