Calgary man's heartfelt plea for dogs return has gone viral

May 24 2018, 10:51 pm

“My beloved girls have been taken from me.”

So starts a May 14 Facebook post written by Calgary area resident Michael Lacey.

Lacey’s two Karelian Bear Dogs, Willow and Aspen, went missing sometime between noon and 12:45 pm on May 6, and Lacey believes that they were stolen from his rural property southwest of Calgary.

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One of the dogs that went missing from a rural property southwest of Calgary earlier this month (Michael Lacey/Facebook)

“My guess is that this was a random crime,” the post says, which has already been shared by over 12,000 Facebook users, states.

“I feel no-one who has ever seen me with my dogs or heard me talk about them could do this. I think it all transpired before the realization of what this would mean to another had hit home.”

Even though Lacey believes that the dogs were stolen, he still organized mass searches of the area, hiking the hills around his property until he strained ligaments in his legs and “literally couldn’t walk.”

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The two dogs that have gone missing from southwest of Calgary (Michael Lacey/Facebook)

He continues his search on horseback, according to his post, because his dogs simply mean the world to him.

“I will expand my search on horseback but in the meantime, I believe truly that they have been stolen. It feels so unfair to me. We have been through so much together already. These girls were nothing short of service dogs for me. They just helped me through the hardest year of my life. The people responsible for this have no idea what they have taken from me, and what they have taken from my dogs,” he wrote.

Lacey stated that he had a 15-year plan for his dogs, and was even planning to take them on trips to Europe and Alaska over the next few years.

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One of the dogs that went missing from a rural property southwest of Calgary earlier this month (Michael Lacey/Facebook)

A reward has been offered, and Lacey promises that he will not prosecute those responsible if they simply bring his dogs home.

“If somehow the person involved is reading this, I beg of you, you can make things right. I have no intentions of prosecuting anyone for mistakes made. I just want my girls back. Simply leave them at my gate and drive away. Please.”

According to comments on the post, Lacey’s plea has been shared across Canada from Vancouver Island to Northern Ontario.

A full transcript of Lacey’s post can be found below:

REWARD

My beloved girls have been taken from me; Willow and Aspen my Karelian Bear Dogs went missing last Sunday afternoon (May 6th) between 12:00 pm and 12:45 pm from my rural property South West of Calgary. I ask you to please share this anywhere and everywhere that you think would be helpful. My only idea left is to make my girls so recognizable that somebody, somewhere will know them when they see them.

Though I suspect they have been stolen I have mounted an intensive search of the area. Volunteers from the community have searched the hills around my house with a tracking dog, scanned from the air with drones for hours, and I personally hiked those hills until I strained the major ligaments in my legs and literally couldn’t walk.

I will expand my search on horseback but in the meantime, I believe truly that they have been stolen. It feels so unfair to me. We have been through so much together already. These girls were nothing short of service dogs for me. They just helped me through the hardest year of my life. The people responsible for this have no idea what they have taken from me, and what they have taken from my dogs.

My aim was true with Aspen and Willow. I was planning to give them the best life that two sisters could dream of having. I had a 15-year plan with these girls. I was already planning to take them traveling in Europe with me next year. We were going to go to Alaska. I was going to show them the world. I love them. I loved them from the first moment we found each other

My guess is that this was a random crime. I feel no-one who has ever seen me with my dogs or heard me talk about them could do this. I think it all transpired before the realization of what this would mean to another had hit home.
If somehow the person involved is reading this, I beg of you, you can make things right. I have no intentions of prosecuting anyone for mistakes made. I just want my girls back. Simply leave them at my gate and drive away. Please.

Thank you all in advance and I can’t describe what everyone’s support means.

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