SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A puppy that was among the missing after a van containing two dozen other dogs was stolen in Fremont over the weekend is now on her way home to be with her rightful owner, thanks to an anonymous tip on social media and efforts by Fremont police.
The dog’s owner, Erica Mason, told KRON4 she was contacted by someone who saw a photo of her dog ‘Fable’ posted on social media.
“We were contacted by an anonymous person who saw the puppy posted on a social media account,” said Mason.
Her American bulldog puppy was among the more than two dozen dogs being transported to their forever homes in a van stolen from the parking lot of a hotel in Fremont late Sunday night or early Monday morning.
Oakland police located the van, detained two people and recovered 24 dogs.
Fable was not among them.
After the story hit the media, Mason says she was contacted by a woman who told her that she saw a dog matching Fable’s description, with a distinct light brown patch over her eye and pink collar on an Oakland woman’s Facebook page
“And the girl wanted to remain anonymous but she said ‘here is the information.’ I just saw it. At that time [the] screenshot had shot the girl’s profile and she screenshot the photos of the puppy and immediately forwarded to us,” Mason said.
The Facebook post has since been removed.
She says the photo of Fable was posted with a caption, “meet my new puppy Bella.”
Mason says she forwarded the information to Oakland police.
“I have reached out to Oakland Police Department and filed an incident report with them. I am currently waiting for the investigator to respond on that,” Mason said.
Before the dog was returned to her, she told KRON4 her hopes were lifted in seeing that the puppy appeared to be okay.
“It was very encouraging and she is okay and doesn’t look hurt and she still has her little pink collar on,” she said.
Tuesday night, Fremont police said on social media that Fable was found safe and “on her way home for the holidays.”
The police department is now rerouting its efforts to find another dog missing from the same stolen van — Papo.
Those with information on the second dog are asked to text “Tip FremontPD” followed by a short message to 888-777.