MAN GETS HIS STOLEN DOG BACK AND GIVES BACK SOMETHING EVEN MORE VALUABLE
"Listen, I’ve messed up a lot in my life, and I’ve been forgiven for a lot of things I did. I’m not mad at you."
Several weeks ago, Brayden Morton was working in his home office when he heard a commotion coming from his gated backyard. He peered out the window to check on his dog Darla, who was lounging on the back deck just minutes before. To his horror, she was gone.
Morton dashed downstairs and saw that the backyard gate was wide open. Then, he watched as a truck sped off — with Darla, his treasured 3-year-old Chinese Shar-Pei, inside.
“I immediately started running after them,” Morton, 35, recalled. Before he could catch up, though, “They were gone. I couldn’t believe what had just happened.”
Morton, who lives in British Columbia, called the police in a panic. Although local officials issued a news release the same day, June 18, about the lost dog and pledged to keep a lookout for her, Morton knew he needed to do more.
“It honestly felt like my world had just come crashing down on me,” he said.
After Darla was stolen, Morton knew he needed to do more than just call the police.
Determined to find Darla, Morton decided he might up his odds by sharing the story on Facebook. He hoped it would reach other residents of Cranbrook — a city with a population of about 20,000 people.
In a desperate plea, he wrote: “Please share and help me. A blue older model Ford truck just pulled up behind my house and took Darla.”
He offered a reward of about $4,000 to anyone who could return her home safely or provide information regarding her whereabouts. Morton decided to include the financial incentive — to which a friend contributed an additional $2,000 — because “this is my dog and I love her. This isn’t stealing a bike out of my garage; this is much more serious,” he said.
The post was shared more than 30,000 times, and by the following morning, “I had something like 497 messages,” Morton said. “I was getting leads from all across the world. It was crazy...
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