A chef who moved to Belfast from the US with his dog has sent his thanks to the strangers who helped him after his pet was snatched.
Paul Scott travelled from Chicago to Northern Ireland during the coronavirus crisis to be near his mother.
And joining him on the journey was nine-year-old Black Labrador, Franklin Rufus Beans.
But last week while on a trip to buy groceries in North Belfast, Paul discovered Franklin vanished from outside the shop, an apparent victim of a dognapping.
He told Belfast Live : “I couldn’t believe he’d gone. I prayed to God if I didn’t get him back, that at least the person who had him wouldn’t hurt him.
"Every day for months now Franklin and I have walked to Tesco on Antrim Road and I’ve popped in to get some food for the day.
“Every day I’ve tied Franklin at the front of the shop and never thought for a moment that anyone would try to harm him or take him. I’ve got to know people in the area and they all know Franklin and everyone loves him.
“But last week when I came out with a bag of groceries, Franklin was gone. I couldn’t believe it. I was frantic. I ran to the house and picked up the number for the vet and called looking for his chip number and location. They explained tome the chip is only used to identify a dog they have in their possession, it’s not a GPS system.
“I ran back down to the shop and was in tears calling out to everyone to see if they’d seen Franklin.
“The security guard came to help me and we were both running up and down the place, it was raining really hard, I was bawling my eyes out. Someone had taken my friend and I really didn’t know where to start looking for him.”
But the community in North Belfast rallied to Paul’s desperate calls for help.
And the agony of not knowing where Franklin for last six hours before they were reunited.
Paul, 41, said: “I put a post on Facebook desperate for news. I was so scared for my big old Beans, he’s such a quiet big guy and he’s never lived with anyone but me from he was a six weeks old. I got him in Nutt's Corner and we moved to Chicago and then recently we travelled to Belfast to be near my mum during the Covid crisis.
Paul, who worked as a chef in Chicago, started getting information about the dognapping from people in the area, and then CCTV footage was produced that he was allowed to post on Facebook. It showed a man walking on Antrim Road with Franklin’s lead in his hand and the dog walking beside him.
Paul said: “I couldn’t believe it. Franklin hadn’t wandered off, he’d been taken by a complete stranger. Now I was even more scared. What did he want Franklin for? Would he try and harm him? Where was he? How was I going to get him back?
But just as suddenly as he vanished, Franklin was returned to Paul.
He said: “Exactly six hours after he was snatched, he was back with me. A man who’d seen the social media recognised him outside a house about three streets away from where I live. He managed to grab Franklin from another man and made contact with me.
“Franklin’s collar and lead were missing but he was uninjured and seemed OK.
“Those six hours were hell. The whole thing makes my blood run cold that he or any dog could be used and abused for someone else's thrills.
“I just want to thank everyone in North Belfast who helped me get Franklin back - he is doing OK and we'll both be fine. It’s good to know that complete strangers stepped up for us when someone took Franklin."
