The 10-year-old dog, named Ollie, was snatched after his owner tied him up briefly outside a downtown Vancouver business on Tuesday
Metro Vancouver Transit Police are crediting the “seamless teamwork” of front-line transit staff with reuniting a stolen border collie with his family.
The 10-year-old collie, named Ollie, was snatched after his owner tied him up briefly outside a downtown Vancouver business on Tuesday afternoon.
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“The owner frantically searched for Ollie to no avail” before flagging down a Vancouver police officer, said Transit Police Const. Amanda Steed.
Then, around 2 a.m. Wednesday, a SkyTrain attendant who had just finished her shift at Lougheed station saw the owner’s appeals for help on social media.
“She remembered that just as her shift was ending, she had seen a woman board a Route 9 bus with a dog that looked like Ollie,” said Steed. The attendant called Transit Police to report the sighting.
Coast Mountain Bus Company put out an alert for all drivers to watch for Ollie and a suspect. The operator of a Route 9 bus saw that Ollie was on his bus and sent Transit Police updates in real time.
Officers intercepted the bus and found Ollie. A 35-year-old woman from North Vancouver who is known to police was arrested for theft and possession of stolen property.
Coast Mountain security officers “stayed with Ollie and kept him safe until he could be reunited with his grateful family.
Steed said Transit Police are “proud to have been able to play a role in a heartwarming ending to a situation that would be any pet owner’s worst nightmare.”