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If you're like me, you've either received or read this on any number of Angeleno websites in the past few days:
ATTENTION ALL:Being a pit bull owner, this naturally caught my attention - as if we haven't had enough bad pit-news lately. However, I'm also a writer and a cynic, so I wanted to make sure this wasn't some kind of a hoax, say, by someone looking for the van's owners and using a heartfelt ploy to get it. I emailed the owner and hit the internets.My dog, HAMBONE, was stolen Monday evening (Feb 11th) from outside the 7-11 @ Cahuenga and Yucca in Hollywood.
He was taken by two men and put in a van that has been described as:
A Green work van (like an Astro van), with a crappy paint job. On the roof of the van is a light bar "W2" is painted on the driver's side.Hambone has a black body with a white head. One blue eye, and one brown. He is gentle and submissive.
This dog means the world to me, so please blast this email out to anyone/everyone you know. Any information regarding the van or the whereabouts of the dog is greatly appreciated.
Please call (310)990-8874, or email eric.leemon@gmail.com with any information.
-Eric
If Hambone is still missing, I'd be surprised, because this grassroots "HamberAlert" (sorry) is everywhere - from Defamer to MetrobloggingLA to MySpace to Craigslist (pets, community, and lost and found) to The Haphazard Gourmet Girls. All I did was Google "hambone dog stolen".
UPDATE: Good (and bad) news. Good news is, I've heard from Hambone's Dad. Bad news, he's still missing. Here's some more details:
It's the real deal Donna...
Hambone was stolen from me on Monday evening. He was tied up outside the 7-11 at the NE corner of Cahuenga and Yucca in Hollywood. According to the witnesses that saw it go down, one black male driving a late model, red Dodge Charger/Magnum untied my dog, a moment later, an army Green Van with "W2" painted on the side pulled up. The Driver of the van and the owner of the Dodge spoke for a moment before the van drove across the street. The owner of the Dodge then ran with my dog, Hambone, across the street, tossed him into the van, and the van sped away. The guy in the Dodge took off immediately thereafter.Can you help me? I've spread the word far and wide, and thousands of people are now involved (no exaggeration), but I'm not sure what my next steps should be. Any advice or thoughts would be so very much appreciated. My dog is a very important part of my life, and I need to know I'm doing everything that I can.
One more piece of information that I think is important in regards to Hambone. There is an LAPD surveilance camera at the SE corner of Cahuenga and Yucca... the cops haven't been able to reviewed the tapes from that intersection yet, but I have a feeling that the camera very well could have captured the incident.
Thank you,
eric@findhambone.com
Sadly, dognapping in LA is a fairly big business, and dognapping rings have been busted - usually when the owner shows up to collect the ransom. Many dogs are stolen from yards; a few expensive breeds have been stolen directly from the car they're waiting in while their owner runs an errand - fairly common in Beverly Hills.
photo of Hambone from the Hambone flyer.
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This begs the bigger question as to what kind of a heartless, miserable asshole of a person steals someones dog? I don't expect much from mankind, but this is a new low as to how big a piece of shite some people can be. I know I'll now think twice about leaving my dog in the car while I run in 7-11 for a cup of coffee.
I really hope Eric is reunited with Hambone. This just breaks my heart.
I've heard rumors of a couple of dogs being stolen from the CVS across the street from the 7-11. There are always missing dog fliers up around the neighborhood, always at least one pit bull.
Must be some sort of dog fighting ring in the area that are either running out of fighting dogs, or running out of bait.
It's sad, disgusting and tragic.
I have a pit and I always leave my dog in the car. It doesn't matter what kind of dog you have, though. The dognapping ring I was referring to was a few years ago in the Valley, and they'd wait until the ransom was high, then say they found the dog.
I know. Just look at Hambone's little face is heartbreaking.
my Brittany spaniel was stolen from my parent's Malibu home, fortunately a very good man saw some men trying to sell him at bus stop. He realized that this dog did not belong to the men, he then called the local animal shelters and vets to see if anyone had reported him missing, and we had. we were extremely lucky to get him back.
In the days of the wild west people could be shot for stealing someone's horse. I think it should be treated like a kidnapping. If the scums are caught they should get some major jail time and if they did it for dog fighting reasons they should be shot.
On our way home from dinner last night my boyfriend and I saw the "Missing Hambone" poster on Hillhurst. The thought of a person (or people)consciously making the decision to take someone's dog really, really made us SO angry. We too are owners of an awesome pit bull that we are madly in love with, and (as discussed during our walk) the thought of someone taking her would absoloutely put me in bed for a month with a broken heart.
Hang in there Eric. He will be found.
I wish for you a speedy reunion.
All the best.
I just wanted to let everyone know that this story has a happy ending. Eric was re-united with his companion Hambone a few weeks ago, when a jogger in Studio City noticed a dog fitting the description near the LA Wash. Although, a little tattered, Hambone is doing great and is enjoying being back with his owner.
These criminals who run these dog fighting rings and steal helpless dogs for use in fighting need to be executed. They are disgusting sick people and they need to be found, prosecuted as as far as I'm concerned given the Death Penalty. We don't need them polluting our society. I say throw them in a ring with hungry Lions, and let them see how it feels.
I wrote it all up here: http://laist.com/2008/03/30/hambone_the_reu.php