YVR (AC) B777 FO Steals dogs ???

[Kip Powick]

METRO VANCOUVER - Two women associated with a Surrey “dog rescue” charity have been arrested and charged by RCMP after a bulldog called Samson was snatched from the back yard of a Coquitlam home.

Police say they believe the same people, dressed in “very official-looking” uniforms bearing the words “animal welfare,” were behind a number of other dognappings.

Janet Olson, 58, the founder and director of A Better Life Dog Rescue; and co-director Louise Reid, 59, were arrested by Surrey RCMP on Nov. 21 after undercover police watched Samson being stolen.

Cpl. Drew Grainger said police are now investigating whether the group was involved in a series of dognappings in recent years.

He alleged Olson appeared to be running an organization that stole dogs and adopted them out for a fee.

Surrey RCMP say they want to hear from anyone whose dog went missing or from people who have dealt with A Better Life Dog Rescue, a federally registered charity. The group claims to have “rescued” more than 1,000 dogs.

“The pair allegedly targeted homes with a seemingly healthy, unattended pet in the yard, [would] don official-looking uniforms presenting themselves as an ‘animal welfare’ service, take steps to disguise the licence plate of the vehicle they operated and proceed to remove the pet property without any judicial authority,” Grainger said.

Police haven’t been able to locate other stolen dogs but are hopeful they will find them.

“This is a public awareness request that we are looking for anybody for whom this might trigger a memory, a suspicious adoption, or even if their pet went missing or if they witnessed something suspicious with a neighbour’s pet being removed,” he said.

Olson and Reid were both charged with break-and-enter and theft under $5,000 in relation to the theft of Samson.

Olson has also been charged with theft relating to another dog stolen in Surrey on April 13. Calls to Olsen, who works for Air Canada as a pilot, and two directors of the group were not returned.

Readers share tales

A number of people are now coming forward with stories about how their dogs were stolen and later tracked to A Better Life Dog Rescue.

Shortly after the story about the charges broke, The Vancouver Sun was inundated with calls and emails from people who said they had filed complaints with various police departments for years.

There’s also a Facebook group called No Better Life, where dognapping victims are trying to track down their pets.

Many who contacted The Sun said that in trying to trace their missing animals, they had been assisted by other animal welfare groups that pointed them to A Better Life Dog Rescue.

Some members of the group have been under investigation before for alleged dognapping.

In 2009, two directors, Rita Mashinsky and Keira Blunden, were arrested and charged with breaking into a Surrey garage where a dog was being kept. Mashinsky was sentenced to a day in jail and two years’ probation. Charges against Blunden were stayed.

In an interview with a Province reporter in 2009, Olson said Mashinsky tried to convince the dog’s owners to sell it but “did a very stupid thing” in trying to steal the dog. She said Mashinsky convinced Blunden to help her, but did not tell others in the group what she was planning.

Among those who contacted The Sun on Thursday was Anne Gardiner, who said her two dogs were stolen from her Redmond, Wash., back yard on Thanksgiving Day two years ago. She eventually tracked her dogs, Lady and Lucky, to A Better Life Dog Rescue, which had “re-homed” them with a woman in Cloverdale.

She said the charity, on a now-defunct website, considered anyone who left their dogs outside in a yard for more than four hours “an animal abuser.”

By the time police intervened, Gardiner’s dogs had again disappeared.

“I was met with absolute belligerence. I was portrayed as a dog abuser. My dogs were found in Cloverdale but I never saw them again,” Gardiner said.

Gardiner said other dog owners in Washington had similar experiences and have now formed a group that tries to keep track of dogs that are connected to Olson’s group.

Brenda Campbell has her beloved old golden retriever Palooka back. But two years ago, the family dog was stolen from her back yard.

It took an 18-day search and an online tip from a dog lover to track Palooka down to A Better Life Dog Rescue. By that time, the dog had been renamed and sent to an adoptive family. A rescue shelter in Chilliwack learned of the case and reunited Campbell with Palooka.

The adoptive family told Campbell they paid A Better Life Dog Rescue $250 after they were told Palooka came from an Asian man who was going into a nursing home and that his wife had died.

She said she never pursued a case against A Better Life Dog Rescue because she was simply grateful to have Palooka back.

“I now never let her out of my sight. Ever,” she said.

James Lucas has a similar story. In August, two women dressed in “animal welfare” uniforms were seen taking his border collie cross, Kate, from the front yard of his Tsawwassen home. Within a day, the dog was shipped to a Mission woman, and later “adopted” out to a man who discovered the dog was stolen after he read Lucas’s plea for help in a Craigslist ad.

After police intervened, Lucas said he retrieved a veterinarian’s file that showed the dog had been taken for a checkup by Olson.

He said he has emails from Olson saying she thought the dog was being mistreated.

In the latest case, Grainger said members of Surrey’s Property Crime Target Team watched last week as two suspects entered the Zuffa family’s back yard in Coquitlam dressed in bogus uniforms and then tried to leave with Samson.

The women were immediately arrested. Police took Samson to a vet to be checked and immediately returned him to his rightful owners, Grainger said..

[Seeker]

How in the world could anyone expect to continue to do this without eventually getting caught?

You set up a registered charity, create a website and are involved in both abducting the dog and adopting it out - you gotta know that sooner or later the whole thing will explode in your face, right?

[Moon The Loon]

A scam disguised as a charity? No way!

Hmmm. If I donate to this charity, because I'm looking for a particular kind of dog, maybe they can rescue one for me from a cruel owner somewhere. Then I can give them some more money and they will give me the dog.

D'ya think?

[mo32a]

These are your PETA types. They think any animal who is restrained in any way is being mistreated.

[vanishing point]

So, I'm curious; how does being charged with a crime affect one's employment? Doesn't matter who the individual works for.

Serious question, not trying to stir anything up.

[Super 80]

This doesn't sound very lucrative.

[boestar]

In the case of a pilot being convicted of a criminal offence it can have a huge impact. If you are convicted of an affence you can be denied access to the USA or any other country for that matter. That could severely hinder your career goals.

[neverminds]

And just hypothetically speaking, if you had to spend time in jail, would your seniority number be held until you were released or could the company fire you?

[boestar]

I suppose you could ask for a leave but unless you had enough vacation time to cover your jail term the yes the company can dismiss you for not showing up for scheduled duty. There would also be a consideration that you may no longer be eligable to hold an airside pass which negates your eligability to work at all. The airside pass is a condition of employment so also a dis missable offence.

Generally speaking this little dog napping scheme could well have ruined this guys entire life.

[thor]

I suppose you could ask for a leave but unless you had enough vacation time to cover your jail term the yes the company can dismiss you for not showing up for scheduled duty. There would also be a consideration that you may no longer be eligable to hold an airside pass which negates your eligability to work at all. The airside pass is a condition of employment so also a dis missable offence.

Generally speaking this little dog napping scheme could well have ruined this guys entire life.

I guess Janet Olson is within a year and a half of AIr Canada's mandatory retirement age.