Missing dog’s owner: “I feel hurt, I feel angry”

The SPCA is investigating whether a Hamilton dog, left for dead last week, was abducted from its home back in April.

The dog’s name was Rigatoni, a 17 year old Jack Russell terrier that went missing on April 11th. She was sitting on her front lawn in downtown Hamilton beside her owner, who was gardening and went inside to answer the phone.

Five minutes later when she came back Rigatoni, or Rigs as they called her, was gone.

She had a collar on her but no one saw her, despite ads the family put up, and a reward of $1000. On Friday June 3rd, she was found in an alley way only a block from her home, with no collar, having lost about half of her body weight.

Story continues below this report from Amanda Blitz:

Hamilton animal control took her to a vet, where it was decided that the emaciated dog should be put down. Two days later her owner, Tony Sciara, was notified.

He believes someone took their best friend. “I feel hurt, I feel angry, I feel like I’ve been deceived, you know, just by people.”

Keith Scott of the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA believes the dog didn’t just wander off. “The condition of the dog would lead us to believe it wasn’t on the street for any length of time. Its coat was pure white, it was very clean and it didn’t have the tell-tale signs of an animal on the street. Its paws were still in good condition and that leads us to believe that at least part of the time he was being harboured somewhere by someone.”

The SPCA says if Rigs had a microchip implanted, she might have been found a lot faster and all of this would have been avoided. They’re asking anyone with information on what happened to her to contact the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA.