€2,000 reward for return of missing pugs

Rewards for lost pets are not uncommon, but few people would offer €2,000. That is how much Valerie Llywarch loves her two black, pug puppies.

The dogs, Harry, a one-year-old male, and Dotti, a nine-month-old female went missing from Ms Llywarch's home in San Ġwann last Thursday morning.

The huge reward is not connected with the dog's financial value. A tearful Ms Llywarch repeated over and over again how she "just wants her pugs back; they're just my pets".

Ms Llywarch explained that she does not breed the dogs and that one of the pugs is even too small to breed, bearing a scar from a previous fall.

The dogs were playing in Ms Llywarch's front garden while she was in her nearby dining room. The shutters were closed and she couldn't see the dogs, but the windows were open and she could still hear her dogs outside. Noticing a prolonged silence, Ms Llywarch ventured outside and found the front gate open and her dogs gone.

"Someone had to open the gate because the dogs couldn't get out on their own," she explained.

She went down the nearby roads in search of the dogs but to no avail. She noticed two men in the area and hopes whoever took the dogs will return them.

She has filed a report at the police station and also reported her dogs missing through a radio appeal. A caller reported that two pugs had been seen between the Liquid nightclub in San Ġwann and the garage on the Naxxar road; again, the dogs were not found when Ms Llywarch went to search for them. Ms Llywarch is appealing to the caller to call again to give more information.

Ms Llywarch is worried that the dogs are "just so young" that they might be out on the streets and cannot fend for themselves.

Anyone with information may call on 7958 2602, or 9923 5507, or e-mail vllywarch@yahoo.com.