ANCHORAGE, Alaska-
An Anchorage man walked out of a grocery store to find his car missing–along with the 8-month-old Labrador retriever that he had chained to the bumper. The dog and the vehicle were found abandoned about eight hours later but the man’s outdoors gear was missing.
Eric Fortner, 40, the owner of the Jeep Wrangler and the puppy, Maxi, said he and a friend planned a morning hike Sunday on Bird Ridge. They stopped for a snack at Carrs Quality Center on Huffman Road and chained Maxi to the bumper.
“Everyone knows what an 8-month old puppy will do,” said Fortner, a dental technician. “I was afraid she would chew my gear.”
They were inside less that 15 minutes and came out to find an empty space in the parking lot.
“I just felt sick,” he said.
Fortner said he left the truck unlocked. The thief may have found a spare set of keys he kept in a box near his visor. He guessed the thief unchained Maxi and put her in the jeep, then drove off.
Friends of Fortner put up posters, called animal shelters and drove through neighborhoods looking for the missing Jeep.
A resident near Brayton Drive, less than a mile from the grocery store, spotted the parked Jeep. Maxi was inside, curled up on the passenger seat.
Fortner’s gear, including backpacks, winter coats, boots, headlamps, cameras, tripods and other stuff worth thousands of dollars, was stolen.
“Maxi has one heck of a bump on the top of her head,” Fortner said of his dog. “But other than that, she is fine.”
Anchorage police Sgt. Doug Pickerel said the dog and vehicle probably were abandoned shortly after the theft.
Pickerel said stealing vehicles with dogs inside them, and taking dogs from vehicles, is not unprecedented. He said it happens every couple of months.
——
Information from: Anchorage Daily News,
