A Massachusetts family has been reunited with their dog who was allegedly stolen out of their yard, thanks to the help of users on social media, officials say.
14-year-old hound mix Trudy was stolen from the family's home in Swampscott on Tuesday afternoon. Trudy had recently undergone surgery, Swampscott Police revealed on Facebook.
"Swampscott Police are interested in the van and couple in this picture. Around 10am this morning the male and female took a beloved family pet from its front yard on Bates Rd," wrote the Swampscott P.D. in their Facebook post. "Trudy is a 14-year-old hound mix that recently underwent back surgery."
The post received a large amount of attention, garnering 500 reactions and 2,100 reposts in just 24 hours.
Police then received a call from one of the individuals who supposedly "stole" Trudy, in which they explained that they did not intend to steal the dog.
"The Swampscott Police Department and the owners of Trudy utilized the power of social media to communicate the community's efforts in locating her," the department said in a statement. "Within the hour of posting on social media, we received a telephone call from one of the individuals who mistakenly took Trudy. The individual reported it was a well-intended mistake."
Many users took to the comments of both posts in order to posit theories as to why someone would remove a dog that was not theirs from the neighborhood in the first place. Users criticized the dog's owners for leaving her outdoors to wander around unleashed in extremely cold weather.
"OMG! Please no matter how much you trust your dog never ever leave them outside alone," commented one user. "Also, this friendly dog just had surgery and is an elderly dog the dog is not safe outside alone young or old."
"If your dog just underwent surgery why would you have it out in the front in the cold. The dog probably went wondering around and came back these people tried to do the right thing and instead people are going down their throats," concurred another.
"This couple was trying to help Trudy. They certainly appear to be treating her very gently. I have walked by many times and wondered if she is ok. She is a very old girl... no one is trying to steal this dog. This couple made an error, but it was not malicious. The vilification and vigilante justice some people are espousing is base and vile. I am glad the family is reunited," wrote one user, who's comment received over 50 reactions.
"Thank you to the #swampscottpd for everything they did," wrote Trudy's owner, Jeremy Rada to Facebook. "If you all hadn't shared our post I'm 100% sure this wouldn't have happened for us, thank you all again."
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